Final Fantasy: Revisited
by Yamiboo
Summary: When a young man gets the chance to follow the story of FFX first hand, he will soon learn that it isn't all fun and games when there is no controller in your hands. RikkuOC, TidusYuna pairings as story unfolds. Revamping old chaps for rating and errors!
1. Beginnings

Final Fantasy: Revisited

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy, as well as the Pentagon, isn't mine at all. Nope, not even a little bit is mine. The only thing that is mine is the story, and NOT the characters. But if I did, hooooo man, there'd be a massive party at my place… Seriously, don't sue me.

Chapter 1: Beginnings

The wind slowly blew across the lonely branches of a pine tree. It moved the branch back and forth, and then left it to go elsewhere. Softly and slowly it moved, casually and relentlessly over the outskirts of the great metropolis known as Seattle. The sun was still hours from displaying its warming, inspirational light to the mostly docile city, and only the occasional peace was disturbed by the cry of a flock of seagulls finding their meals for the morning or the dull sputter or an engine moving its owner to the nearest Starbucks for a pick me up.

Onward the wind went, lazing across the vacant streets in an unorthodox, lulling path into a normal cul-de-sac, completely devoid of movement. Moving around a particular house, it moved around all of the upper windows of the two story abode, pausing briefly to try to make passage into each room. Noting that all the windows were tightly locked and its occupants were resting peacefully, it moved downwards. It suddenly felt drawn to a particular window on the bottom floor. Its path became straighter as it moved fairly quickly into the open window.

The fan resting snugly inside the window suddenly blew a strong, cold chill into Bruce's room, waking him up from a slumber for what seemed like the 10th time that night. Bruce felt the arctic air blow straight into his eyes, making him painfully aware that his eyes were still burning with the lack of sleep he's been having the last couple of nights.

Mumbling a curse his mother would kill him for hearing, he rolled slowly out of bed and into his brown slippers stationed faithfully beside him.

Yawning with a soft sigh he padded softly up the stairs into the kitchen, careful not to wake his mother or, for that matter, either of his sisters. Not wanting his eyes to hurt anymore than they had to, he walked over to the other side of the small kitchen to turn on the stove light so he wouldn't have to suffer another stubbed toe. Peeking warily into the refrigerator, he looked for anything to stifle the nonexistent hunger he had. 'Jeez, no more Lunchables...? Someone's gonna die tomorrow...' He thought angrily as he shut the door and went back downstairs, unaware that he didn't turn off the stove light.

Bruce made his way into the small bathroom placed conveniently at the foot of the stairs. Fumbling with the lights, he quickly relieved himself, calmly thinking over his late insomnia. 'Why am I always up nowadays? This isn't making any sense…. I haven't had any late night snack attacks' Bruce hissed as the cold water of the faucet splashed across his hands. 'I really need some strong sleeping pills… Maybe just some cough medicine will do…' He chuckled to himself. 'Then again, I don't want to die from overdose. I've got more gaming to do before I die.'

Turning off the faucet, he slowly dried up his hands with a towel. 'Man, I wonder if my friend will let me borrow his PS2 again…' Unbeknownst to his friends, Bruce had only played FFX once and already it was his favorite RPG. He began to order everything he could get his hands on via eBay, and he downloaded sheet music for the songs. He was just mad that it ended so soon, and with such a crappy end boss. But still, that didn't stop the FFX syndrome to enter his veins. Too bad all that time on the couch went to his frame a little more then he wanted.

Bruce turned around to look at himself in the mirror. Grayish blue eyes stared back at him that were worried with fatigue, only reminding him of his need to watch Lord of the Rings again in order for a cure to his problem. His eyes traveled up, regrettably, to his hair, which was now tousled in a flurry of midnight black going 4 inches in every direction. He groaned audibly to curse the gods for giving him such frustrating hair, and to thank them for hair gel. In a lame attempt to slick his hair back, he wet his hand with a little bit of water and let it drag across his head.

Bruce looked at his hands as they were moving vainly across his scalp. 'Surprising how much potential was in those hands,' he thought to himself. Ever since he was able to remember, he was always good with his hands. He got a bass guitar for his 10th birthday, and has learned to be very good at it. Ever since people found out he could play the underground Mario theme, everyone looked up to him for his quirky and strange sense of humor. He has grown up to become a valuable asset to any group, willing to play anything and everything just because of the way it made him feel.

But recently, he hasn't been feeling the familiar love that he was once used to.

Shaking his head as if to clear up the dark cloud of thought that hit him, he continued to assess himself with a tinge of regret since he wasn't able to fix the hair problem. His eyes went down to his torso, now hidden behind a solid black t shirt with a picture of a Nintendo controller and the words "Know Your Roots" scribbled above it. He inwardly kicked himself as he realized what was under that seemingly loose shirt. Until he graduated the year before, he always worked out every day, and had hardened up the loose pack he kept under his shirt and made him, at the very least, unashamed to bare his chest in public. Once he received his diploma, however, he had started to divulge his daily ritual of pushups, sit-ups, and low-carb dieting, giving him a little of a belly, but not enough for anyone else to notice without really looking.

He noticed, though.

His lower attire was modest. Spongebob Squarepants boxer shorts given to him as a gag for his latest birthday, along with cigarettes and a magazine he had to throw out for obvious reasons, living with three nosy women.

Yawning, he looked once more at himself before shutting off the light with an audible click, and knocking over the toothbrush holder. He didn't care. He was exhausted.

Bruce stumbled down the hall into the den, and looked at the red loveseat in the middle of the room as if it was an oasis. He pried his eyes away enough to find the remote, turn on the tv, and pop in Lord of the Rings before he practically stumbled into the loveseat, slipping off his slippers in a last-minute thought before curling himself up into a comfortable half-ball and watching the movie with mild interest. Before long, he found himself slowly fluttering his eyelids in a battle for consciousness until he realized this was a battle he wasn't going to win and, finally, went to sleep.

With what seemed like hours later, Bruce opened his eyes with a start, feeling completely refreshed. He scrubbed at his eyes to get the gunk out, and then stood up, full of a need to seize the day. Glancing at the tv, he saw the static fuzz glaring back at him. 'Must have finished,' he thought.

With one look out of the window, his start to a good day turned into a miserable crash back into reality in one instant, as he saw the sun hasn't even showed up yet.

"Dammit!" he cried very audibly. Quickly, he shut his mouth with a click and listened for the lecture from his mother not to swear. Sometimes she can be a real pain. Bruce 'mm hmm'ed' at his thought and went back into his room.

The many posters greeted him, as they always did. Lara Croft with her dual pistols staring back at him, and Homer Simpson with his many poses in his underwear giving him a small glimpse of humor in the dark hours. He glanced at his clock on his dresser next to his bed.

The clock menacingly showed him a 5, a 2 and another 5.

With a new passion for sleep, Bruce determinedly closed his door, threw himself onto his bed and closed his eyes, waiting for sleep to overcome him. He needed, _needed_, sleep right away, either that, or he'd just put on Lord of the Rings again.

After that seemed like forever, Bruce screamed in his pillow.

And again.

And hit it several times.

After calming himself down in short breaths, Bruce climbed out of bed again to move into the den, ready to watch Lord of the Rings again to help him. He padded over to the remote control where he left it, next to the sofa. Glancing around for it, he moved to the other side of the loveseat, looking for the remote. Wasn't there either, he thought.

Then, he found it…

Stationed comfortably above the television set.

'Weird,' he thought, with lack of a better term so early in the morning. As he grabbed it, he finally noticed the change. He would have noticed it earlier, if it wasn't for his subconscious being slow into getting up.

The tv was static. Usually, it goes back into the dvd menu, right? He stopped in mid reach. 'Someone was down here, but I would have heard them, at least I thought I would have. They looked pretty asleep when I….'

Suddenly, his train of thought stopped when he saw a picture flicker across the screen.

Tensing up his shoulders, he began to absent-mindedly stare at the screen, trying to make out the picture. 'Man, I knew something was wrong with this disc,' he noted as he cautiously opened the disc holder and pulled the disc out, quickly checking for scratches.

The picture didn't stop flickering.

Bruce flung the movie across the den, cursing the British as it landed in the corner next to his computer. He then turned his attention back to the screen. 'What the….' He scooted closer to the screen, still watching the glitching screen carefully.

The screen then began to focus, fixing on one screen with an almost powerful intensity that made Bruce jump back a little.

Bruce felt the bile rise in his throat as he realized what the picture was.

"Sin."

He saw it before, of course, he's played the game before, and he knew exactly what it was, but he was scared, nonetheless. Not scared, no. Freaked out of his mind was more like it. Too freaked out to move, Bruce just stood up slowly, unable to take his eyes off of the monstrosity that was sitting comfortably on his screen. Questions came all at once, how did it get on the screen, why am I not turning off the tv, why is the noise so loud…

The creature known as Sin studied Bruce's face intently, as if piercing into his soul with each eye of his. Bruce shuddered with the force of its gaze on him. It began moving slightly, as if waiting patiently for something. Bruce began to move to turn off the set, but something was horribly wrong.

He couldn't budge from the place he was in. Someone, _something_ was stopping him.

Bruce frantically sent signals to his arm, telling it to do something other than just hover there, but nothing moved. His eyes remained glued to the screen, and he knew that this was no ordinary glitch.

His premonition was further confirmed as he saw the light begin to filter from the television. The eerie blue light started along the edges before moving into the center. It began to get closer to the screen, always pushing its boundary as far as it could go. So close, in fact, that Bruce felt the light cross his face, which was now inches away from the screen.

In an instant, the calm light shot outwards in a loud blare, and suddenly the den was filled with brightness. The beams shot along all of the walls, covering the whole room in a blue blur of symbols and circles that furiously turned and turned until the room itself was enclosed.

Bruce was now able to tug his eyes away from the tv, only to see that he was no longer in the comfort of his den by the looks of it. His vision was blurred by a bright bluish hue everywhere he could see. He looked down and to his dismay, he was not sure if he was even able to do anything about it. 'Man, I sure hope I'm dreaming this now, I don't need to start seeing a shrink…' Bruce began to pinch himself and prayed that they started feeling pain in a dream.

Then, the light around him closed into a large sphere, closing him inside. Bruce panicked, clawing frantically at the walls that he felt only smooth...heat. He quickly withdrew his hand, seeing the faint hint of smoke fading quickly from his fingers, accepting his demise. 'This is it,' He thought to himself. 'All that crap about aliens is starting to come back to haunt me… I swear, I'll never deny a hillbilly's words again.' He hopelessly shouted for anyone, anything, a sign that he still had his sanity left as he felt his body begin to lose gravity and float into the sphere he was now a part of. 'I'll never see my friends again….or anyone I love… oh my God, I'll never get laid!' Bruce wasn't one for crying, but as those words started to hit home, he felt a tear trickle down his cheek. The hum of the light surrounding him began to rise into a whine, higher in pitch with each passing second. The light in synonymous to this, grew lighter and lighter, until Bruce could only shut his eyes and hear his impending doom grow nearer. In one last act of defiance, he screamed as loud as he could. Maybe his mother could hear him and help.

Then again, she hasn't heard any of this as yet.

Bruce began to feel very…odd. Like his stomach has been suddenly stretched, and slammed back again. He opened his eyes one last time to see his hands in front of him. He continued to stare at them, as if to prove he still was alive. Then, his hands suddenly stretched to an unimaginable state before moving to the center of the enclosure and disappearing. Bruce let out a strangled cry in horror as he saw his arms begin to stretch, following the path of his hands earlier. His eyes opened wide, unable to describe the feeling of having one's arms stretched out but not destroyed. He immediately did the lamest thing he could think of.

"Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray the Lord my soul to keep,

And if I die before I wake…"

Bruce felt his head get light, and then closed his eyes, unable to see what would happen to the rest of him as his stomach lurched, and the rest of him descended into the vacuum of light before him.

Author's notes: So, whatcha think? It's my first fanfic, and I plan on going a lot farther than this with the whole thing. Like, a whole heck of a lot more. Please, constructive criticism is always appreciated. I need to know if I'm doing it right. Thanks for reading.


	2. Paradox

Final Fantasy X: Revisited

Disclaimer: Even though this is a story, I still don't own any part of it. Final Fantasy and all its characters are the sole property of Square Enix, formerly Squaresoft. No lawsuits, I only have a old school Game Boy and 20 bucks, anyways. For all the non-lawyers, enjoy!

Chapter 2: Paradox

'….Where am I? Have I died? What is going on with my tv and the light show from hell?' Bruce thought to himself in the void that followed his terrifying ordeal in his den. Still unaware of what was happening, he only had his thoughts to hang on to, as long as he could think, he couldn't be dead. 'Or can I? I've never actually died before... I just want to go home and enjoy sleep again….or at least trying to sleep… jeez, I don't need this now, I got school tomorrow!' Bruce struggled to stay focused on his thoughts. He could not open his eyes, even if he wanted to. 'So cold….So dark…' was all he could think about, contrasting from the apparent heat he felt before his prison swallowed him whole.

All of a sudden, the dark place he felt began to grow lighter. Bruce's eyelids fluttered quickly as he found his motor skills again. 'So hard to move…' Bruce struggled with his eyes for a while longer, but each time they felt like they weighed a ton. After a while, he stopped trying. He vainly tried to move his hands, which were currently stationed on either side of him. Every part of him felt so… heavy. After sighing, which was no more than his chest moving slightly, Bruce gave up on trying to find where he was.

'No pain in heaven my ass…' He thought disdainfully as he waited for anything to change. He slowly tried to regain his strength as he pondered the situation. The sound was gone, and he no longer felt like he was floating, which was accented by one more ineffective attempt to open his eyes. His whole body felt like it was mummified. Even his legs felt confined, as well as the rest of him. 'What a waste…I knew I shouldn't have insulted the British…' Bruce, with the feeling that hope was gone, stopped struggling.

He instead listened to his heart beating. Almost as an afterthought, he noticed that his heart wasn't the only thing making a noise. Straining his ears slightly, Bruce began to hear a soft murmur. It was then that the murmur began to change, becoming more focused and elaborate. Much, much louder, too. Someone, no, many people, were singing. The concert of voices soon was all he could hear, overcoming his senses with an unknown feeling as he took in the haunting melody. It was… beautiful. Bruce felt his heart begin to swell with emotion as he realized what it was. The notes, the rhythm….

It was the hymn of the Fayth.

As soon as he realized that, he slowly felt the crushing pull of his body begin to lessen. Bruce pursed his lips. He had to get out of this prison and get some answers. Wherever he was, he was not having a good time. After a quick prayer, he felt his hands start to twitch occasionally as he fought control. 'At least there's progress…' Bruce was also able to move his legs a couple of inches upwards before meeting some sort of barrier. 'Okay… here goes nothing.' He braced himself, and willed his eyes to open using all of the strength he had. His eyelids fluttered very quickly before shooting open, grayish-blue eyes hitting the sunlight almost immediately.

"Ow…." Bruce quickly shut his eyes in recoil, and then opened them again, this time more slowly. He looked again to the sun, which was now dipping slowly behind the horizon of the ocean, which was heard by the soft murmur of waves coming across the horizon. He looked down at himself, with a small hope that he would find his sofa under him. To his dismay, he found himself in a small bed next to a window, overlooking a harbor. Questions would have to wait until he knew where he was. He glanced around him to see a small opening to his left, opening to a larger circular room, roughly 20 feet in diameter. The walls were a soft red color, mostly due to sparse bits of paint chips still remaining on the now desolate walls, and there was no carpeting, just wood that looked worn out from years of non-use. There were windows on either side, but they were each covered with a soft blue cloth, appearing to have been worn down. There was no other furniture, except for a small foot-high wooden drawer in the corner opposite his room. Bruce could also notice the large of dust that crossed the path of the sunlight. No one has been here for quite a while.

"Too bad, I guess my popularity will be considerably lower here," he murmured with a chuckle. Realizing that there was no point in looking for answers when in a bed, he quickly sat up. It was then he realized that he was inside a heavy comforter, tightly wrapped around him and under the bed. "Explains the mummy theory," Bruce said to no one in particular as he squirmed an arm out from under the blanket, pulling desperately at the edge of the bed to get it out. After a quick curse and the application of both hands, he was able to wrestle enough of the brown comforter in order to shimmy himself, somewhat ungracefully, out of the space and smack onto the floor.

The first thing he noticed was that he was naked.

Out of instinct, Bruce quickly grabbed a pillow from behind him and covered himself. He felt his cheeks begin to redden at the thought of someone seeing him naked. 'Some way to start my day,' he thought as he frantically scanned the dwelling for his clothes. "I liked those boxers, dammit!" He cursed loudly as he found nothing with the familiar yellow colors on it. "Who the hell stole my clothes?!" After noting that he was still in plain sight from the window, he quickly moved away, fumbling with the cloth over for several moments before watching it fall over the window, with the sun just barely seen behind it.

'Okay, Bruce, deep breaths,' he thought to himself, waiting for his recent state of embarrassment to leave him, only to be replaced with a chill from the windows, echoed with the curtains flapping against it. Must find clothes. Bruce checked under the bed for any sign of cloth. All he found, however, was a dust cloud, kicked up almost immediately by his intrusion and flaring into his nostrils. He fell back with a soft thud, rubbing constantly at his nose to ease the irritation it received. He could feel his eyes blurring as he coughed hard.

After the chokefest, Bruce stood up, still with the pillow held fast to his unmentionables, and searched the small shack for any sign of non-dustiness. 'Where can I find a decent set of pants here?' Bruce said, scanning along the whole room for anything.

And then, he remembered.

The dresser.

Cautiously, he walked over to the lone dresser, unsure of what exactly he would find. As he got closer to it, he noticed a rather large rectangular case leaning casually against it. By the looks of it, it looked in a lot better state than his surroundings. For one thing, it resembled, somewhat ironically, like a bass guitar case. Hard black plastic surrounded its exterior, with four small latches on one of the longer sides and a metal stripe dividing it in half.

"Finally, something familiar," said Bruce as he looked thoughtfully at the case. "But, first things first." He moved his eyes away from the case and down at the dresser. While the case was new, this dresser was old, but still familiar to him. It was not elaborate in any case, but he still remembered he had one just like it at home. It was a dark mahogany dresser, about 2 feet high, and there was just one drawer inside it, with a wooden handle on the outside. Just as he remembered. Bruce grabbed the handle and opened it.

As the door creaked open, Bruce saw his first ray of hope of the day as he revealed a set of clothes, from top to bottom. "Yes!" Bruce exclaimed as he dropped the pillow and began to hurriedly assort himself in the various clothes that were there. He didn't care how they got there, or why. He didn't even care how they fit him so well. All that mattered was that he could be clothed now, and would avoid the embarrassment of walking outside naked, who knew what was out there.

Out there. Where was 'out there,' anyways? Bruce hesitated for a moment as he was struggling to shimmy into the outfit given to him. He glanced out at the now closed window that overlooked the sea. 'That water was too clear to be Seattle water,' he began to rummage through the dresser to find some other things. 'Didn't smell like salt, so it can't be an ocean…' Bruce fished out a pair of boots from the drawer. 'But, how could it be that big and not be an ocean? And for that matter, the sun was far too big to actually be our sun.' Stumbling a bit, he began to get one boot on, hopping a bit to get it on right. 'Where the hell am I? And for that matter, why was Sin on my tv? Why am I not at home? Why did I hear the hymn of the Fayth? Why is my stuff here?' The questions began flinging themselves at him, and for the first time since he woke up, Bruce began to wonder exactly where he was.

With a final thud on the wood, he managed to get into his boots and lace them up. He wriggled his toes on the inside. These felt really, really good. Like he could run a marathon in these. He jumped up and down a couple times, breaking them in a little bit. He then walked back over to the dresser and peered inside, looking for any other articles of clothing that he might have forgotten. He saw a red cloth at the bottom, so he grabbed it and looked at it for a little bit before stuffing it into one of his pockets.

After closing the drawer with a soft thud, Bruce began to look at his new ensemble. His boots were black, and seemed to be made with some sort of heavy leather with soft padding on the insides, so it looked as if they were made to be walked in. Made to be walked in a lot. He had on dark socks made of coarse wool, warming up his feet a little more. His tanned legs were bare up to the knee. From there, they were covered up by baggy, dark red shorts with wide openings. They were supplied with black circular markings all around the bottom rim of them, which resembled, vaguely, the symbols projected all around his den before the light consumed him. As a nostalgic feeling overcame him, he followed up his body to the black t-shirt that hugged him closely. He also had on a loose-fitting red vest, moving down his torso until it connected with a ring of fabric around his waist, with a large pouch resting on his left hip. The soft jingling told him that whoever gave him the pouch didn't leave it empty. As he realized where he has seen this kind of outfit before, he began to feel both confused and anxious as he fished out the red cloth from his pocket, worked it into a bandana and placed it on his head, with various strands of hair peeking out from under it.

'Okay, freak out factor of 8.75 and steadily increasing…well, can't argue with the fashion, I'm loving it.' He glanced at the windows, still covered up with the blue cloth. He gulped audibly. 'Well, I've avoided it thus far, better see where that blue thing took me.' A couple of steadying breaths later, he flung open the curtains with a loud rustle.

Bruce took one look outside, and quickly turned away, visibly shaking with uneasiness.

No. It just wasn't possible. It just was. not. possible.

Bruce closed his eyes, feeling the fear begin to sink into his body. 'He had to have been dreaming, he had to have. This whole thing is just a dream, because what he just saw was impossible. Really, really not possible. It wasn't what he thought he'd seen. He expected a beach, or even a paradise cruise, but what he saw wasn't anything he could find anywhere. Literally. Bruce began to whimper softly. He was scared, because he knew exactly where he was, and he knew exactly what would happen. Bruce felt his pulse quicken with a small surge of adrenaline. His eyes began to twitch involuntarily as his hands began to sweat, and he brushed them hurriedly across his shorts as more sweat appeared instantly across his whole body.

He turned around again slowly, with his heart beating loudly against his chest, to look out at what he saw once more. His eyes were once again met with the brilliant sight before him. Hundreds of skyscrapers, all large and shooting up very high, surrounded with lights so bright that it let out a hue of light all around it. The buildings were very massive, all of them looking somewhat like hourglasses, with circular layers going up each one. It would have looked like any other city, except for the huge stadium in the center. The stadium was filling up gradually with people, all excited and eager to get inside. There was a dull murmur of noise surrounding the stadium as wave after wave of people were moving towards the massive structure still about a quarter of a mile away.

Bruce looked away from the skyscrapers to the voices he overheard on the road just ahead of him. He saw a group of people, all heading towards the stadium. A small boy of about 8 was riding on a man's back, most likely his father. The boy's presumed mother was riding what looked to be a moped, only there were no wheels, just two glowing circles located at the bottom. She was sitting with a girl on her lap, riding smoothly alongside the other two. They were all chattering lively, full of energy. "I want a front seat, daddy!" "I don't think we got here in time for that." "Blitz is so cool!" "I wanna see Tidus play!" "The Abes will sweep it again!" was all that Bruce could pick up as they continued on to the stadium, now the only source of life in the whole city.

Blitz. Tidus. Abes. It all came together. His breath caught.

He was in Zanarkand.

He shook his head lightly as he attempted to clear his head from the overload his senses were getting. He was in a game. He was in Final Fantasy 10. This was impossible. He stood there, continuing to look at the stadium in the distance. It was all so real. He could feel everything. But this had to be a dream. It had to be. He closed his eyes slowly, feeling the clothes he was wearing move with his breathing. But, man…this was one hell of a dream. One for the recordbooks, right alongside the one he had in 7th grade with those twelve women and the different outfits and the mistletoe under each woman. 'Oh, yeah, that was great,' he thought to himself, opening his eyes with a new found vigor. "Well, if this is gonna be a dream of that 'caliber', I better make it count," he said aloud.

Moving away from the window, he turned to exit the room and out into civilization. He moved his hand towards the knob when he remembered the case, still sitting idly next to the drawer. 'Oh, yeah…." Bruce walked over to it and stood, ready to open what was inside. Maybe it was his bass guitar, but he doubted it. Grabbing it and setting it on the ground before him, he deftly opened the latches on the side before resting on his knees and opening it quickly.

Inside was much like his case at home, same black feathery fabric inside. However, the usual guitar he'd see and the indentation of a guitar were replaced with something else. It was a weapon. His eyes opened fully to take in all of it. Like his clothes, he knew exactly where he'd seen it. Two wide blades, stationed firmly on opposite sides of a single staff made of dense wood, about one and a half inches thick and curved slightly at where it met the blades. The rod stretched about four feet to reach the blades, all together making it about five feet. Bruce looked at the middle, where the rod had split an oval about six inches long in the middle of the rod, with some rough leather grips on either side.

His weapon, the swallow.

He looked at the rest of the ensemble inside the case. Sitting below the weapon was a pair of black faded fingerless leather gloves with extra padding on the palm. 'Probably for my hands' sake,' he thought as he grabbed them and put them on quickly. He then moved up to the other half of the now open case, and saw a black leather strap stretched on two pegs. On the strap, he saw two short leather belts, as well as a longer piece dropping lazily to one side. He took the strap in his hands and noted that it was a lot heavier than it looked. 'Must be a strap for the weapon.' He lifted his left arm and let one side fall to his waist, and letting the right side rest on his shoulder. He then took the longer belt and wrapped it around his waist, being sure to set the two-pronged buckle firmly around him.

Sweet. Quite sweet indeed.

Bruce celebrated his newfound gear with a quick woo-hoo and a raise the roof notion. 'About time good started to happen,' He thought during his ceremony. When he was finished, he leaned back over and grabbed the handle of the swallow. As soon as he touched it, he felt a sudden queasiness. He noticed that he couldn't hear the sea anymore. When he turned to investigate, he noticed that he couldn't move an inch. Just like when he saw Sin on his tv. A sense of urgency overcame him as he wrestled with his unseen bonds, trying to find out what had stopped him from moving. 'Not again, not after good was happening…' Bruce thought just before he heard a voice, ringing loud and clear.

"It is about to start."

He tried to speak, to figure out who was talking to him, but he still couldn't move. The voice continued.

"You will begin your journey soon. This is not your story. However, you are given the chance to follow alongside another's story. You must not interfere with his story, for you already know the outcome of it."

He knew that voice. Childlike in nature, but very wise, and demanding authority. As to who it was, though, he couldn't quite pinpoint it.

"This story, as you know, is long and perilous, and it is very likely that you will not survive. As you know this, it is still your choice to become a part of his story, or to wake up in your bed, and none of this would have happened."

'Wake up? Then, this was a dream, after all?'

As if he heard the thought, the voice continued. "Granted, this is not an ordinary dream you are having. On the other hand, you also know that this is not an ordinary reality, either. You, Bruce, are on the very line between dream and reality. Anything that happens to you in your present state will be permanent, and cannot be reversed. So, death will still bring its consequences, as will injury. Are you ready to begin your journey, Bruce?"

Bruce felt his body be released from its hold. Not his body, no, just his head, but it was progress. Bruce was about to ask him who he was and why he was here, but every time he started speaking, the words stopped in his throat. Before he could think any further, he realized that the unknown assailant asked him a question. Was he truly ready to be a part of the familiar plotlines and enemies, friends and areas? Could he handle it? Would he handle it? Then again, he would be able to fight alongside all those people that made the game such a hit, and he'd be able to do what no other person has been able to do, but wanted to for so long.

Bruce cleared his throat and with a strong tone, said "Yes."

"So be it. However, I will warn you, do not interfere with the young man's story. It will have more consequences than you can imagine. It will rip the very fabric of both worlds, yours and his, into nothingness. I grant you Godspeed, Bruce. Farewell," the voice began to fade away, until it was no longer there. As soon as the last word was uttered, Bruce's body was let go of its prison, and he had to catch himself before he landed on his new weapon. Furrowing his eyebrows, Bruce heaved the swallow upwards, positive that it would be about heavy, to say the least. He pulled so hard that the seemingly heavy swallow flew upwards, the sheer force of it pulling Bruce upwards slightly as well. "Whoa!" he exclaimed somewhat embarrassed as he realized that the swallow weighed only a portion of what he thought it would be.

He stood up with the tool in hand, unsure as to how to use it. 'Oh well, Tidus didn't know either, so I guess there's no way to go but upwards for me, too,' he thought to himself. He took a couple of practice swings, stepping forwards with his right foot and bringing the swallow across him with a diagonal slash, resulting in a bright whir as the blade cut through the air. Before long he realized that the water in the stadium was starting to flow, resulting in a huge cheer from the bleachers. He quickly took sight of the two pieces of leather dangling on either side of him, and maneuvering the swallow behind him looped the upper strap around the rod, tightening and pulling it until it was secure. After setting the buckle, he repeated the process with the other end of the swallow, securing it diagonally across his back. Now, the sun was completely gone from the sky, and the city's lights were dimmed, save for the stadium.

He had to find Auron, fast. Before the chaos began.

Okay, okay, so I need a little work in my writing. But, I can't change anything unless you give me things to change! Please, please leave feedback. Don't worry, the romance will come for all you sap fans out there, but not for a while. The story needs to unfold a little bit, but be patient. Thanks for reading!


	3. Bedlam

Final Fantasy X: Revisited

Disclaimer: Even though this is a story, I still don't own any part of it. Final Fantasy and all its characters are the sole property of Square Enix, formerly Squaresoft. No lawsuits, I only have a old school Game Boy and 20 bucks, anyways. For all the non-lawyers, enjoy!

Chapter 3: Bedlam

The stadium was a lot bigger than he first thought as Bruce traversed the many steps to go inside. It was absolutely gigantic, easily seating about 60,000 people. Bruce walked up level after level of stairs, glad that the boots were making it rather easy. Glancing around at the various booths he looked for anything that would tell him where Auron was. The different writing system didn't help a lot, either. It was like kindergarten all over again, trying to make out the symbols that vaguely resembled the normal alphabet.

'Like a needle in a haystack,' Bruce sighed as he stopped at a booth on the top floor selling Abes shirts, hats, and small spheres with pictures of players in it, probably some form of trading cards. The man attending the booth had his back turned to him at the moment, looking up at a large sphere stationed conveniently just above him. Bruce glanced up at the sphere, which showed the blitzball game, already in progress. He watched as the camera zoomed in on Tidus, replaying him tackling a player. Hard. So hard, in fact, that the attacked fell out of the sphere full of water and landed hard in the stands. The announcer's voice could be heard: "Would you look at that, folks! Man, what a tackle by Tidus of the Zanarkand Abes! Boy, oh boy, it looks like he won't be playing for this game any more, folks. It looks like….yes, he's getting up! A little shaken, but okay. You can bet that he's gonna have something to say to the Abes later, ho boy!"

Bruce remembered this. Sin was right about to blow the whole thing over, and he still had no idea where he could find Auron. Forcing a smile on his face to cover up the mood he was in, he turned his attention to the man still engrossed in the game. "Excuse me, sir?" Bruce said to the man. As if waking up from a trance, the man jumped, purely shocked, and turned around quickly. He was clearly a business man, as he immediately plastered on that can-I-help-you smile that made you forget that he was so spooked just moments before. His attire was as clean as could be, with brown slacks that had a slight shine to them, a lighter brown vest on that had a long line of silver buttons down the middle, finished with a neat array of dark locks surrounding his face, combed neatly and pulled behind his head into a small ponytail. He had his arms folded politely in front of him, and he bowed his head with a nod. With a low, soothing voice, the man spoke. "Welcome to the Abes' Store. Here, you can find just about anything related to the star team, whether it be pillowcases or trading spheres, autographed blitzballs or bubblegum chewed by the players. Could I interest you in some books on how to improve your game, or perhaps a biography sphere on Tidus, the star player?" The man was clearly good, as Bruce felt the urge to buy something in the store. "No, thanks, sir. I was just wondering… have you seen a man with a scar across his face and wearing a big red coat go by recently? It's really important that I find him." Bruce felt, more than see, the smile on the man's face falter a bit.

"Well, I see a lot of people, kid. Big stadium, as you can see. I don't remember just any face, you know. Hmm…" the man crossed his hands comfortably in front of him. Bruce couldn't put his finger on it, but something about his posture seemed…off. "Let's see, a man with a big red coat… I might have seen a man like that, but, oh…." The man directed his eyes to Bruce, with a half-smile played across his lips. "Maybe I will need some sort of…inspiration…to help me think harder."

Bruce's smile dropped almost immediately. Of course. A business man only knows how to do business, not charity. "I see…" He would have, under any other circumstance, told him to shove it, and find another, kinder person to ask. However, he noticed with the corner of his eyes, a change in the ocean far away. He looked behind him to focus more on the ocean, and saw….

Bruce's eyes widened as he felt a chill work its way through his body. 'No….' He was unable to turn his eyes away. 'Too late…' The salesman saw Bruce's eyes focusing behind him, and turned to look at what he was looking at. Bruce snapped his eyes away to see the man beginning to turn around. "NO!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, the echo ringing clearly after. The man stopped his turning to look back at the boy, clearly insane. "Uh…" Bruce looked at his hands, which were now in tight fists, his knuckles beginning to lose color. "I, uh…" He swallowed the bile beginning to rise in his throat, which felt like acid down his throat. "Here, here's some money." He ungripped one hand long enough to open the pouch violently, diving his hand in and retrieving what looked to be gold coins of some sort. With a hint of malice, he threw them at the man, who caught some of them as the rest scattered to the floor. "Now, I'm through with this shit. Tell me where he went, or I'll be sorry for whoever will find you after I'm done with you." Bruce felt himself go into survival mode, and with a surge of urgency reached over, grabbing the man by his shirt and looking at him with a look that surprised even himself.

The man, normally suave and sophisticated, was shaking. His eyes, that previously oozed confidence, now portrayed the look of pure terror. His forehead now had a light sheen of sweat trickling down to his jawline, and he swallowed hard, his adam's apple bobbing up and down. "Uh, h-he went in there," he pointed to the stadium entrance roughly 100 feet in front of him, which was now eliciting a cheer as the Abes regained control of the ball. "Just, don't hurt me!" He was now whimpering softly, any semblance of a strong man long gone.

Bruce looked away from the man back to the sphere one more time, to show Tidus with the ball in hand, racing frantically towards the goal. The announcer shouted, "It looks like Tidus is about to attempt the Sphere Shot, he's passes to his teammate, he's now swimming to the top of the sphere, and--" was all that Bruce made out before he was beyond the sound of the sphere and into the shouting of the fans in he stands. He ran down the darkened corridor before skidding to a halt just before it opened into a staircase into the bleachers. He couldn't believe what was before him, even though it was in plain sight. The figure was walking up the stairs, slowly but with determination. His coat was just as he'd seen it, big and red, and there could be a glimpse of his sword hitting the glow of the stadium lights, creating an arc of light on the walls of the tunnel. Bruce couldn't believe it. "Auron…"

With a smooth turn on the steps, the said person suddenly cut the distance between them in half, with his left hand behind his back, grabbing the hilt of his sword. His one brown eye pierced into him from behind his sunglasses, making Bruce step back once as a reflex. With the gruff voice he was dying to hear, Auron spoke. "How do you know my name, boy?" A chill entered him as he heard it, and he was almost tempted to ask him to say it again, but he knew better. He had some explaining to do, and before Auron's sword left its place in his back. "Uh, my name is Bruce. I'm here because, well, I don't really know how, but I do know what is about to happen, and, well…" geez, how would he be able to escape Auron's wrath without making him look foolish? "Listen, uh, sir Auron, sir, uh, I know Sin is about to attack Zanarkand." He thought he saw Auron's eyes flash slightly with surprise, but just as he saw it, it was gone. With no less acid in his voice, Auron cut him off. "Boy, I don't know how you know me, or how you know Sin, or how you know Sin will attack here. However, I have no time to engage in small talk with a child. Leave me at once." With that, Auron turned around, with just as much grace as before, deftly climbing the stairs and turning the corner, disappearing from sight.

Bruce blinked, marveled at who that just was. He was the legend that was his best character in the game. He was just as nonchalant and badass as he's hoped. He was…not there anymore. Without hesitation, he scrambled up the stairs, two at a time, and rounded the corner, following Auron who was now 10 yards ahead of him, with the crowd quickly swallowing up his red coat. "Wait! Sir Auron! I need to get out of here! You're the only one who can help!" Auron's coat was quickly diminishing behind the crowd, with just traces of red to let Bruce know where he was. Now, he was screaming. "I need your help. You're the only one who can get me out of here! I gotta reach Spira, I wanna be one of Yuna's guardians, and I can't get out of this stupid place unless you help me!" The tinge of red vanished, leaving just the crowd in his vision. Bruce looked to his left, out across the top of the stadium to see the bulbous form of Sin begin to emit a light in the distance. "Crap!" He was going to be left here. "Crap oh crap oh crap..." Bruce whispered to himself, still running forward as he glanced over his shoulder, unaware of what was in front of him.

He saw Tidus jumping out of the sphere below him, readying the Sphere Shot.

All of a sudden, he collided with something. No sooner than he reacted, he felt something grab his shirt and lift him up, leaving him on his tip toes to try to stay grounded. He turned to see the face of Auron, now clearly surprised behind the glasses and coat rim. "How do you know about Lady Yuna? Who are you? Talk, if you value your life. Now." Auron said icily, emitting yet another chill. Obviously, Bruce needed to say something, but time was running out, and they both knew it. Sighing, Bruce tried to look Auron in the face, but the look he was giving him forced him to look down at his shirt instead, now ruffled by Auron's grip. "I can't explain everything now. Both you and I know that there isn't any time. Sin is readying his attack as we speak. You have to make sure Tidus survives, and I have to follow you both. I promise that I'll explain later, but…" Bruce heard a single shriek from the crowd as they began to see the spectacle in the ocean. "Look, for now, just let me prove to you that I can be a good guardian, please, this is my only chance to get home." He knew that he wasn't making any sense, and that he was as good as dead unless Auron let him go, but he was desperate.

A long silence ensued between them as more people began to see Sin in the distance, and all chaos began to unfurl around them. All in a single moment, people were jumping bleachers and running towards the exits in a crazed fashion. A continuous wave of people went by them as Bruce felt the wind of their path whip by his face. Screams of everyone were heard as Auron continued to stare at him with that piercing gaze of his. Even amongst the shouts of the panicked people around them, Bruce still heard his voice clearly. "Boy, I usually don't associate with people such as you. However, we are expecting company soon, so I will need your help to dispatch them." He glanced at the swallow, hanging on his back. "Can you use that?"

Bruce, not wanting to be left with the panicked crowd, looked at Auron and hurriedly nodded his head.

"Good. Then, follow me." Auron released him immediately, allowing gravity to take him down and cause him to lose his balance. Auron continued to glare at him. "But, I will get answers from you when we meet again, whether you want to or not," Auron spat with a promise that that wasn't an empty threat. He turned and started walking to where Tidus was, who was now hanging onto a ledge not 50 feet away. Bruce quickly patted down his shirt so it was once again comfortable and ran after Auron, swiftly avoiding the people who were still not stopping.

Then, he heard it. An explosion, louder than anything he'd ever heard. Covering his ears with his gloved hands, Bruce looked at where the source was, and gasped— The attack that Sin unleashed just took out the support beam that helped to keep up the level he was on. The ground began to tilt slightly, causing the whole stadium to shudder unsteadily.

Damn it. It just got worse.

All Bruce could think of was how he would survive something like this. All around him, the stadium began to quake with such intensity that he began to lose his footing. Ahead of him, Auron was beginning to sprint up the falling plane towards the only even ground in the whole stadium. His voice could barely be heard over the massive sounds of the falling stadium. "Run, boy, and don't stop!"

Run, boy, and don't stop. That was all he needed to hear.

Bruce turned towards where Auron was running, and began to run after him. Before long his lungs were burning with adrenaline and exhaustion, but he knew that there was no losing this one. He was now facing a 20 degree incline, roughly, and it was getting harder to make the next steps. The ground under him began to split, making jagged rocks jut out from under his feet, one edge cutting his leg at the calf . Shouting a curse, he kept moving, watching intently the ground under him as it began to deteriorate and rise up even further.

Looking ahead, he saw Auron, already at the top of the steady ground, looking at where he last saw Tidus hanging, not even worried about him at all. Seething at such lack of sympathy at his life in jeopardy, Bruce began to double his efforts to make it to the top, which was now just 40 feet from where he was. However, the falling floor was now at a harsh 45 degrees, and Bruce's left leg was throbbing from the wound, now coating the back of his leg in blood. 'I can't die. Not now,' was all he was able to think.

Just 30 feet away, and the ground began to veer at an even higher angle as he struggled to keep his boots from slipping off. To make things worse, the ground was dangerously close to splitting, and the crack in the middle was threatening to crack the track in two as he got closer and closer to his goal.

Without warning the ground split with a loud snap, creating various cracks in the ground to open up in jagged, uneven edges. Bruce, in a reflex, looked down and saw his legs, now just hanging on to the cement by the fronts of his feet. The cut on his leg was now opened more, causing him to lose more blood as each second went by. The ground then went too steep, as Bruce lost his footing and began to fall, no longer able to catch on to the traction the wall was giving him.

Time slowed to a crawl as he began to fall down, towards certain doom. His heart was now doing quadruple overtime, his legs were aching beyond anything he could remember, the wound on his leg was angrily pulsing at him, and his lungs were crying out to end their suffering. It was then that Bruce finally understood the truth.

That this really wasn't a dream. And he was about to die.

'No…' Bruce looked down at his feet, which were now in a freefall against the now-almost-vertical plane, now with jagged edges protruding outwards in all directions. 'I can't end like this, I just started.' Bruce continued to feel the scraping of the ground against his boots, waiting for anything he could do to stop falling.

Then, his foot grazed across one of the cracked slabs of cement. On instinct, he pushed with his leg, propelling him upwards as the ledge began to fall more rapidly. Bruce, with his other leg, began to search for another ledge to propel off of. 'Not now. I'm not dying this way.' He felt his right foot connect with another protrusion, and pushed, giving him more momentum. 'I haven't even met the others yet.' His eyes were squinted now, burning with the dust now all around him. But he couldn't stop. He felt another ledge. 'Not even seen the Moonflow with my own eyes.' Pushing with all his might, he continued upwards, and decided to ignore the pain that his left leg felt. Through the slits in his eyes, he could make out the ledge that he needed to get to, now just 10 feet away from him. Auron was looking at him now, with no intent to help him.

Giving a throaty groan, Bruce put in all of his energy, hopping from one ledge to the other. Never keeping his eyes away from the goal, now just three feet away, he realized that his right foot was on the last portion of the breaking cement before he hit air. With a yell, he summoned all the energy in his entire body and pushed, launching himself upwards as the cement he was on collapsed to the ground with a resonating crash. Stretching his arms as far out as they could go, Bruce closed his eyes and made a quick Hail Mary as he prayed for any sort of object to hold on to.

His hands scraped across the jagged edge of the ledge Auron was on. And he felt it. Immediately, he grabbed on, struggling to keep his tired body from disobeying him as he pulled himself up, coughing with the iron-like taste of blood in his mouth as he collapsed onto the ground below him, his body shutting down automatically as he began to drift off into unconsciousness, despite the sounds still heard below of people and destruction.

He would never again ride a Stairmaster as long as he lived. He swore it. So tired, though. Maybe I can just sleep for a couple of minutes, no one would care. Yeah, sleep….

"Boy! Wake up, boy!"

Huh? Bruce thought he heard something. Guess not.

"Boy, I'm warning you, we're not done yet!"

There's that annoying sound again. Maybe it will go away if I ignore it. Back to sleep.

Then, pain. Not just any pain. A hard, swift pain in his side. Enough to get his eyes to open.

"Ow! Jeez!" Bruce flinched, then looked down to see Auron's boot just inches from his torso. "Jeez, it's not as if I just ran a freakin' marathon in 5 minutes! Throw me a bone here!" Bruce winced sharply as he started to get up. "Not to mention the Stairmaster from hell, and a cut in my leg large enough to require stitches, but, nooo, big bad Auron's gotta get a piece, too!" By this point, Bruce was shouting, glaring hard at the floor below him, crouching on weakened, exhausted limbs. He was still very tired, and his rude awakening reminded him just how much.

Auron was glaring down at him. "Then perhaps you aren't ready to become a guardian, then. I'll leave you in peace."

Bruce looked wide-eyed at Auron. "No, uh…" Auron tossed him a vial, with some blue liquid in it. "Pour this on your wounds, drink the rest. Then, follow me." With that, Auron jumped down from the ledge, where Tidus was recovering from the drop, leaving Bruce with the vial, standing on the pinnacle of destruction. He picked up the glass vial and, without much thought, pulled the cork with an audible 'thoomp'. 'This should be interesting,' he thought as he sat back down and started dripping the liquid onto his leg. The instant it made contact, Bruce yelled out in surprise. It felt like it was burning, somehow, but with no pain. Bruce hissed instinctively as the potion began to work into his cut. In any other situation, he would be disgusted, but now, he hurt too much to care. With about half the bottle left, Bruce stopped pouring, leaving the bubbling liquid there to do its duty. 'What does this stuff taste like?' Bruce threw caution to the wind and chugged the whole thing down in one quick gulp. 'Blech,' he thought as he finished the bottle with a hard belch. Resisting the urge to gag, he tossed the bottle over his shoulder. Shuddering with the sudden drop in his body temperature, he glanced down at his wound, now just a bubbling and hissing pile of liquid. He pushed the excess liquid off his leg with his gloves. The liquid slid off his leg, leaving just his leg with a few splatters of blood on it, and nothing else. 'This is some good stuff,' Bruce grinned, his body temperature also returning back to normal, His lungs were working great, too. "Yes!" Bruce shouted, glancing down to where Auron dropped from, looking at him confront Tidus. In the distance, he saw the Sinscales start to emerge from the buildings. 'Oh, crap, I better get moving,' he thought as he grabbed a stray wire hanging off the alcove and, with a quick prayer, hopped off the ledge and began shimmying down.

Author's notes: I hope you are enjoying this, cause I am sure enjoying writing it. Just for you people who are very attentive to detail, keep in mind that I don't own a copy of FFX, let alone a PS2, so I'm doing this pretty much from memory, and from the groovy guy who put up the game script on so bear with me if everything isn't perfect. Besides, it's considered sad if you can even pay that much attention to a video game anyways. As always, constructive criticism is always appreciated, even needed, so feel free to give me some pointers, especially from you authors who already put good stuff onto this site. Thanks!


	4. Skirmish

Final Fantasy X: Revisited

Disclaimer: Okay, you know the drill. I don't own any part of Final Fantasy X, except for the story idea.

Chapter 4: Skirmish

"We called it Sin," Auron said, turning to face the monstrosity before him.

"Sin?" Tidus asked, staring incredulously at the ball of water before him.

At that moment, Sinspawn appeared from the buildings on either side of him. In a flurry of blue, a swarm of about 50 fiends jumped down in front of them, shrieking with a loud hiss and oozing blue liquid from their mouths. One in front leaned back slightly and then, without warning, hurled himself at Tidus, who was now throwing his arms in front of him defensively.

As soon as the attack started, it stopped. The sinspawn gave no sign of defeat other than his sudden drop onto the pavement with a soft thud. Tidus opened his eyes to see the creature lying about 5 feet in front of him, with a blue mess beginning to form under it. A weapon was firmly planted into its back.

A stray wire dropped right next to Tidus with a soft click onto the pavement.

Bruce thanked his gloves for the protection as his hands buzzed with the feeling of the wire sliding through as he dropped to the ground with ease, where his boots made a ring of dust where they hit. "Good thing I was there when I was, huh?" Bruce said as he walked over to where the dead sinspawn was, grabbing his swallow just as the body began to disappear into pyreflies. 'Sweet, that sounded cool,' he thought, grimacing inwardly as he stepped into the blood that the body left behind. 'Gonna have to get used to this…'

"Hey, who are you?" Bruce turned to see Tidus staring at him, hands crossed in a offensive fashion. He looked just like Bruce imagined he would, his hair about as long as his, and that costume still confusing to look at. A wave of sadness hit Bruce unexpectedly as he stood there. 'Just look at him, unaware of the roller coaster of a ride he'll be on, and what's more, unaware of his ill-fated relationship with Yuna…' Even though he didn't like Tidus much, he still felt sorry for the guy. "Sir Auron, do you know this guy?"

"I'm Bruce. Nice to meet you." The pleasantries would have to wait, though, as a wave of creatures began to move. "Auron, the sword, please," he yelled to Auron, now right behind him, watching the sinspawn ready their charge.

Auron widened his eyes at Bruce, then narrowed them. "How in the hell…." Shaking his head, he took out a sword from behind his back, its shape reflecting the light from the posts all around. "Boy, you've got a lot of explaining to do…" then to Tidus, "Take it." He thrust it into his hands. "A gift from Jecht."

"My old man?"

Bruce sighed as he recalled the regular dialogue. He heard Auron saying, "I hope you know how to use it" before he began to hear the hisses getting closer. "Uh, guys, we don't have time for this! We've got company!" He said as he turned to face the monsters, now moving into lines of three, covering the whole highway they were now standing on. Bruce turned to face them, his face a mask of determination as he gripped the swallow with his right hand, his left resting casually on his chest, ready to move to the handle at any time for an added power boost. His right foot moved in front, poised and ready to move him in any direction. In the corner of his eye, he saw Tidus struggling with the new-found sword as he took his usual stance. Auron moved in between the two, taking out his samurai sword, and took his hand out of the pouch in front of him.

The battle began.

With a screech, the first of the creatures let out a shrill cry as it lunged for Tidus, claws outstretched. Tidus, still unused to his sword, let out a 'gaaah' and lifted the sword off the ground just as the sinspawn reached him, resulting in a metallic clang as the claw connected. With a grunt, Tidus was knocked off his stance, falling backwards unceremoniously as Auron stepped in between him and the now charging monster, slashing with liquid movement of his arms gripped firmly around the hilt. With no sign of slowing, the sword cut clean across the sinspawn, dashing it into a scatter of pyreflies.

Bruce, on the other hand, was busy on the other side of the wave, slowly watching the monster come towards him. 'Okay, it's just like before, just a quick slash and it's all over.' Bruce gripped the swallow, and leaned back slightly, ready to counterattack. 'But, man, I can't even squish a bug without freaking! Man….' He shouted in surprise as the closest sinspawn jumped at him, ready to kill. Summoning up all his courage, Bruce ducked quickly, and quickly stuck up his swallow straight in the air, serving as a perfect spike for the fiend as it jumped right over him, receiving a deep slash right across the underbelly, from top to bottom, exploding into a series of pyreflies before it hit the ground. 'See, simple,' Bruce grinned slightly, watching the swarm surround him and escape into the sky. Readying himself for another attack, he decided it would be easier if he was closer to the others, so he quickly dashed towards the other two, now surrounded by the fiends from all sides.

With a yell, Bruce jumped, his swallow, ready to hit the mark on the fiend in front of him, now turning to see whose blood it would spill next. With a downwards slash, Bruce cut the first surprised fiend across its neck, then without stopping its movement, swung the weapon around his body and dragged it upwards into the torso of the one to its left, leaving a fairly large gash before jumping back to avoid a counter. Hissing in pain, the sinspawn tried to leap forward to attack, but the slash had an effect on its maneuverability fell in front of Bruce weakly, dark blue blood dripping underneath. 'Ugh,' was all he could think as he lifted his weapon up, and with a wince let loose the blade, sticking into the exposed side of the fiend. With a loud hiss of pain, and a guttral growl, the sinspawn thrashed wildly until it floated away into pyreflies. Once the path was cleared, he ran towards the cornered two, getting into his stance again. They were doing fine, but Auron had a couple of scratches on him, and Tidus was still getting used to his sword. 'Hmm, this isn't working,' Bruce thought as he saw the endless amounts of fiends closing in on them.

"These ones don't matter, we cut through!" Auron yelled, accenting it with a stab into another fiend, who howled in protest. Tidus, now defending one's repeated jabs with his sword, yelled out, "couldn't agree more!" as he pushed one slash aside long enough to bring his sword upwards, killing the fiend quickly. Bruce, following suit, ran past a third fiend, leaving a gaping hole in its side on the way. After the three fiends became pyreflies, Auron began to move forwards in the road, towards more fiends, all ready to strike.

In the distance, Bruce saw a tanker sitting idly alongside the road.

"Move to the tanker!" Bruce said loudly, still focused on the enemies around him. "I have an idea!"

"I like the way you think, kid," Auron yelled back, raising his sword to block an attack from another sinspawn. "Tidus, move towards the tanker!"

"Oh, man, I was playing blitzball five minutes ago!" Tidus screamed angrily as he lashed out at another fiend, who dodged it easily. 'He's gotta do better than this,' Bruce thought as he began battling another fiend, steadily moving backwards under the force of Bruce's blows. After a series of blocks, Bruce swept under it, taking out its legs. It let out a piercing cry as it began to fall, putting Bruce off guard. With lightning quickness, it lashed out in a desperation attempt, and deftly struck Bruce's forearm, leaving a mark about three inches long. "OW!" Bruce yelled in surprise as he used his left arm to carry the swallow, bringing it down hard on the hurt fiend, ending its cries quickly. Bruce quickly clutched his arm where he was hit instinctively, leaving his swallow laying next to him. 'ow ow ow ow ow ow…' Bruce took in deep breaths as he struggled to cease the pulsing pain in his arm. 'Its gonna start bleeding…' he thought a little late as the blood began to flow. He had to keep moving, though. With a quick 'suck it up' pep talk, he grabbed the swallow with his left hand and rushed towards the tanker.

After twenty or so more sinspawn, the trio was 10 feet away from the tanker, with sinspawn on both sides of them now. Bruce's right arm now had a nasty bruising effect on top of the wound, but the bleeding slowed considerably. Still with the swallow in his left hand, he ran towards Tidus, who was now being double teamed by more sinspawn. After a surprise slash from behind, the other fiend turned from Tidus to him, and back to Tidus.

A smile played across Bruce's lips. "Hey, Tidus, you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Tidus stood there, a look of confusion on his face. "Huh?"

Bruce readied his swallow. "Just go wide right, and cut back towards it. Hit high. On three." God, he hoped this worked.

Tidus faced the fiend again, ready to strike. "One…..two…."

And with that, they both rushed at the sinspawn at once, from either side. The sinspawn panicked, rearing up on its hind legs in defiance. Once they reached both sides, both turned sharply in, their blades poised for a swing. Just before they struck, Bruce ducked and deftly slashed towards its unguarded side, as Tidus swung his blade across its neck, an arc of blue blood mimicking the sword's path.

The fiend exploded into the pyreflies as Bruce stood up, beaming with relief. "Sweet!" Bruce hollered gallantly, giving Tidus a high five, which was reciprocated. Tidus let out a "Who else wants some" before he noticed that the sinspawn stopped attacking.

Actually, they just stood there, in a neat circle, watching them. Auron noticed it, too, as his slashes became fewer and farther between. "Something has changed…" he muttered as he moved closer to the middle of the circle. "Be on your guard."

Bruce, on the other hand, already had his swallow up for guard, unsure of the next step. 'Let's see, uh, there was Sin, sinspawn, tanker….' The fiends began to get very quiet around him. 'I'm missing something, something big.' The fiends in front of him began to step back slowly. 'Sin, sinspawn, tanker, uh…' Bruce started to dance on either foot, antsy for an answer.

Tidus was the one to notice it first. Glancing upwards, he let out a strangled cry, alerting the others to what he saw now being launched from Sin towards their location. Auron spun his head, still in his defensive stance, and Bruce turned around completely, trying to see what Tidus saw.

Oh yeah.

It was much, much larger than any of the fiends thus far. Shaped somewhat like a large blue cylinder, and tentacles in all directions splaying out from it. It was spiked at one end, the one headed for the road they were standing on. As it descended, Bruce began to feel…dreadful. As if that thing was letting off a wave of fear with every passing moment. Bruce immediately felt sick as he clutched his swallow harder. 'Well, no getting away from this one, better get to it,' he thought to himself as the large fiend came to rest in front of them with a resounding 'boom' followed by a large dust cloud. It let out a piercing cry, and both Bruce and Tidus held their ears in pain. Auron just stood there, calm as always.

"Get out of my town!" Tidus yelled, startling Bruce a little bit as he stood up again, now clearly pissed. He was now fairly good with his sword, and he looked ready to plant it firmly in this fiend's neck. Fueled with Tidus's newfound vigor, Bruce assumed his ready stance, adjusting his grip. "You're gonna get it now!" Auron joined them at the end, pausing briefly to take a vial from his jacket and taking a sip as his scratches began to heal, closing up and disappearing. Then, hoisting his sword onto his shoulders, he launched himself at the fiend, screaming "Some can't wait to die!" with his sword pointed at the monster ahead.

Sinspawn Ammes worked quickly, and swatted the sword away with a tentacle. Auron, without losing speed, used the momentum to carry his sword around him in a complete circle, whizzing into the side of the fiend, then jumped back before he could receive any damage from the counterattack.

Tidus was next, as he attacked the left side, instead, slashing all about him, cutting off several tentacles and nicking the side a little, as well. He wasn't as lucky as the beast send him flying back with a hard slap to the gut, winding him a bit as he struggled to stay standing.

Bruce's turn went about, as he ran towards it, narrowly avoiding some lazy swats to his head. With a savage series of strikes, he swung his swallow through as many tentacles as he could find, severing quite a few with surprisingly little resistance. After most of them were laying on the ground, he inched back, returning to his place alongside the others. "Well, he can't attack anymore, right? Easy as – "

As soon as he spoke, he felt suddenly queasy. The sickness was soon followed by what could only be described as a sudden surge of gravity. Bruce felt his insides lurch inside him, as if they were going through a washing machine. As soon as it started, it stopped, leaving Bruce and the others considerably weakened. Gasping, Tidus gulped. "What…was…that…ow," He grabbed his side with his free hand. "Like my…insides…stretched…" Auron, too, looked as if he had been under a bit of stress, wiping at his forehead. "It's his attack, his real one," he said as he struggled to get his breath back. "We're going to have to finish him off quickly, before that kills us."

They all attacked again, in the same order, but now aiming for the body more. After a couple of rounds of them attacking, the other sinspawn watching began to attack also, throwing themselves in front of the large one. 'Great,' Bruce thought as he sliced the new ones quickly just before Ammes attacked again, leaving them breathless and more tired then they have been. Even Auron was gasping at this point.

Bruce clutched at his heart through his clothes as he felt it surging inside him. "Gaaah," he yelled as he used his remaining strength to attack a sinspawn just feet away from him. "This has… gotta…stop," he groaned as the effects wore off. Tidus was now just getting up from his ordeal. "I've almost had enough of this…" he said, gritting his teeth as he leaned on his sword, seeming very tired. "Auron...!"

Auron, however, was not paying much attention to him though, as he stood there, just looking ahead of him. Bruce glared at him. 'What is he doing? Concentrating at a time like this?' he thought. Just then, Auron switched stances, one more crouched and with one arm pushed forward, and leaped into the air, pointing his sword downwards. With a shout, he cracked the cement with the tip, sending up a red hue of energy, followed by four red spheres, all hovering above him giving off tremedous energy. Bruce watched as they flew past him, towards the sinspawn.

After a series of shrieks and an explosion of energy, Bruce stood there, dumbfounded. 'Of course, his Overdrive must have maxed out! Man, what power.' He looked over to the explosion, and the dust settled, leaving just the large pod, now greatly bruised and cut, and a vast expansion of pyreflies, hundreds of them. "All right, Auron! That was tight!" Bruce yelled at him, and was given an odd look in return. 'Oh, yeah, no slang…' he shrugged at him, and started laughing weakly, hopeful that it would stop him from staring. It did.

Tidus was staring at Auron, too. "How did you do that?" He asked, with a grin that could have lit up Las Vegas. "That was crazy, sir Auron! It was like, blam, then it was like, blam, then it was all, boom, and –" Bruce looked at him now, amused. 'It's like another language or something…' Bruce cut him off when he saw the sinspawn begin to move. "Uh, guys, we're not through yet!" he yelled, refocusing all of their attentions on Ammes. It was clearly hurt, as it was sagging slightly, and blue blood began to ooze from its wounds. "Well, just about, but still…"

"I got it, guys," Tidus said, moving in front of the other two, sword at the ready behind him. "You're going down, creep!" he said to the wounded fiend, as he brought his sword to rest next to him. "Take this!" Without warning, Tidus soared into the air, making an intricate pattern of twists before landing, jumping up again, and with all his might, flipped so that he was above the fiend, with his sword drawn up above him. With a sickening sound, the sword split right down the middle of it, resulting in a loud cry, and another large explosion of pyreflies in his wake.

Damn. Day-umn.

"All right! Did you see that? You see that, Auron?" Tidus yelled, waving his sword around. "I whooped him!" He passed Bruce to speak with Auron, giving him a grin as he passed, not noting his downcast state. 'Jeez, this sucks,' Bruce looked down at his hands. 'These guys just whooped him with no problem, and all I did was cut some stupid body parts? I need an Overdrive, quick.' He turned towards the others. 'But how can I get one? I'm not even part of this world, do I even get an Overdrive?'

He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice Auron was right next to him until he put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't be discouraged, boy, you did your part," he muttered, so quietly that Bruce might have missed it if he hadn't registered his hand on him. Bruce sighed. "Yeah…" was all he said before Auron left him to his thoughts once again. No, he wasn't mad, or upset. He was just irritated that he didn't carry his share of the load for everyone.

"What are you laughing at, old man? Auron, let's get out of here," he heard Tidus' say in the distance. Turning, he noticed Tidus was looking at something in the sky.

He moved his eyes upwards, and saw Jecht's picture, still erected on a building amidst the destruction. 'Man, that guy…' Bruce glanced over to Sin, who was still moving steadily towards them, engulfing all of the buildings in its path. 'What a sad, sad guy he is.' Glancing behind him, he saw that Auron and Tidus already were gone around the corner. He grabbed his swallow and ran to meet the next threat.

Tidus and Auron, however, already had their hands full, resuming fighting off a horde of fiends, all moving quickly around them. 'Moping will have to wait,' he thought as he resumed his stance, determined to get to that tanker.

The battle resumed again, with fiend after fiend falling to the three blades, until they were stationed close to the tanker, with still more fiends coming on either side. Bruce was next to Tidus, and Auron was facing the other side, both teams fighting desperately to keep them from being overcome. "Gimme a break, man!" Tidus yelled as he slashed into another fiend. The slash was sloppy, however, and it only cut into the fiend, not through, but it was dead nonetheless. He had acquired several new cuts, on his arm and forehead mostly, but he was still going. Auron was now hunched over, and spat angrily onto the ground. "Hmph. This could be bad."

Bruce looked around at his surroundings momentarily, and visibly sagged with relief.

The tanker was right next to them. They had gotten this far, and he hasn't died yet. "Okay, guys, the tanker! Aim for the tanker! It's the only way to kill these things!" He yelled, dodging another attack and running towards the tanker, hitting it in any way he could to move it. Tidus, confused at first, took his cue from Auron instead, who turned towards the tanker as well, slashing at the tanker with vigor. With each blow, the tanker crackled a little bit with life, giving the three more energy to attack with.

After a couple of blows, Bruce turned around to see more sinspawn crawling towards the three, all hissing and arms stretched towards them. With a steadying breath, Bruce turned from the tanker, using his swallow in any way he could to hold them off until the tanker was ready to go. At this point, his whole body felt like it was on fire, and every muscle was straining with every slash Bruce made. 'Can't give up, can't give up!' Was all that was keeping him going as he was using all of his strength to move the weapon, slashing with his right hand, then trading off to his left hand when it got tired.

It wasn't long before the fiends began to overcome him, and he was given a barrage of slashes and scrapes, making him cry out in pain. "Hurry up!" he said through gritted teeth before he gave up on killing them one by one and started swinging the swallow like a bat, just keeping them at bay until the tanker was destroyed. But, man, was he tired. The fiends hissed violently as they halted, unable to get inside the swinging blade.

Panting loudly, Bruce had only a little bit of strength left before he would be too tired to move any more. "Guys…" he rasped, still swinging his swallow with both hands, now. With another swing, he swung too hard, as the swallow went around him, taking him around with it, just before he could plant it into the ground before he fell over from exhaustion. Desperate to catch his breath, he looked over to Auron for a potion.

With a loud crackle, the tanker whirred to life, as Auron attacked it one last time.

Tidus was running over to Bruce, with a vial in his hands. "Here, drink this, quick!" He thrust it into Bruce's hands, moving on to clear a path for them to escape. Without any more instruction, Bruce popped open the cork and drank the whole thing with an inward grimace at its taste again. The chill was still new to him, as he sagged with the inward changes, way too rapid to get used to yet. After the initial chill, he felt his body return to its normal state, as if he hadn't just fought a war with a hundred fiends.

He had no time to celebrate, however, as Auron dragged him up by his collar with a jerk. Apparently, he's had a potion, too. "Run, boy, and don't stop," he said with a bit of a smirk on his face before turning towards the newly cut path Tidus laid out for them. 'Don't need to tell me twice,' Bruce thought as he scrambled after them hastily.

Behind them, the tanker was now a giant firecracker, popping and sputtering everywhere. Before long, one of the many sparks found the gas tank.

Bruce could only hear the huge explosion, but he had a good idea of what it looked like. As easily as he could, he looped the belts around his swallow before swinging it around his back. 'I need to run quick, can't be slowed down.' Doubling his efforts, he was now running alongside Tidus, panting a little from fighting before. The bridge under them began to shudder violently under them, and Tidus stumbled a bit, leaving just him and Auron in front, all running from the cloud of fire that was behind them.

Sin was right in front of them, not fifty feet away. Bruce would have stopped stupid if his instinct reminded him what would happen next. Putting his face back down he kept running, trying with no avail to keep up with Auron, who was sprinting over the bridge to the other side, expertly dodging the cement flying at him. Bruce saw the ground in front of him crack straight in two.

'I said no more Stairmasters!' Bruce thought angrily as he ran up the new slope and jumped down onto the rest of the bridge, which was now breaking up rapidly. Climbing another incline, he jumped off of that one, and landed safely on the other side, where Auron was now standing, looking at Sin, now sucking up all of Zanarkand into the white oblivion. Bruce was compelled to look too. 'There's the thing that got me here.' He watched as Sin moved the thousands of buildings as if they were made of air, and drew them into the white vortex in front of it. 'So much destructive power, and I've gotta kill it,' he thought, gray eyes hitting the light that was to draw him in.

His thoughts were interrupted, as Auron spoke. "You are sure?" Bruce sighed in recognition. Here it was, the next part of the long journey in front of him. 'What did I get myself into?' he thought, moving his bandana off of his head and stuffing it into his pouch. 'Well, beats the hell out of sitting around all day…' He looked at Auron, who was now looking at Tidus, dangling off a ledge for the second time in twenty minutes. "This is it." Auron bent over, grabbing Tidus by the collar, suspending him in midair, as Sin began his descent. "This is your story." Sin was now directly above them, sucking up all of the surroundings, save the tiny ledge they were on. "It all begins here." Auron looked at Bruce, now looking at Tidus as well, black hair swirling about him in a frenzy. "I will get answers from you, when next we meet," he told Bruce, who turned his head towards him and nodded quickly.

Bruce began to feel queasy. He looked back to Tidus, nodded, and said, "We'll meet again, real soon." Tidus looked back at him, confused, but Bruce didn't have time to notice. His head felt very light, and his entire body began to float a little bit. Bruce closed his eyes. He knew what was about to happen, and he didn't wanna see it. He felt his clothes lose their gravity, and they moved freely about him. He even felt the heat of the light through his closed eyelids. His stomach was next, turning into knots over and over again. As the light swallowed him whole, one last thought hit Bruce before he lost consciousness.

'Wait a minute, I hate water!'

Author's notes: Man, this is my first attempt at the combat stage, so be gentle in your feedback, please. I would like to thank those of you who left your feedback already, it gave me some fuel to crank this one out. It sucks though, it took 4 chapters to get through the first part alone! Just what did I get myself into?!?! Well, I hope you keep reading, peoples. In the next couple chapters, our hero gets to meet Rikku, the potential love interest in this story! Told you guys you wouldn't have to wait long!

This seems like a year long thing, so expect updates every week or so. Oh, and If you really like it, spread the word! Feedback is fuel! Tell a friend! Thanks again for reading!


	5. Acclimate

Final Fantasy: Revisited

Disclaimer: Well, I didn't own these guys the first four chapters, so what makes you think I'd own them now?!

Chapter 5: Acclimate

'Oh, no, not this again…' Bruce was back inside the void again. The same one that got him here. Once again, the nothingness that he felt after the first time. Once again, the feeling of nothing, save the cold of the darkness all around him. 'Oh, well, at least I know where I'll end up this time…' Trying to move ended with the same result, just the feeling of a thousand pounds on every inch of him. 'In the water, only to be chased by a monster that will be sure to swallow me whole.' It wasn't just coincidence Bruce hated the water. He was always freaked out by swimming in the same water as sharks, jellyfish, and other potentially dangerous animals.

That, and he couldn't swim very well.

'Maybe my insane dog paddle skills will render him useless…' If Bruce could, he would have chuckled. The void continued around him, ceasing all other form of life, save his thoughts and the bitter cold of the environment inside Sin. Or wherever he was.

A muffled sound was heard faintly. Bruce strained to hear it again, but as soon as it was there, it disappeared. Bruce stilled his thoughts, trying to listen intently to the sound, should it come again. After what seemed like an eternity, it came again, and much louder, but still as muffled as before. 'What the…' he thought, still dead silent as it came again. What kept doing that?

After hearing the same garbled noise again for the third time, he suddenly felt himself being violently stirred. Gasping, Bruce tried in vain to move again, feeling exhausted with every more attempt. His whole body felt the feeling of being shaken again, and that noise….that noise…it was so repetitive! Bruce grunted involuntarily, as his body told him to stop the rocking from the unseen force. He had to wake up. He had to…

"Wake up!"

Bruce's eyes opened up with a start, staring up at a darkened ceiling, worn with age and water damage. He was lying on the hard dirt floor, slightly damp from the water falling about the room. Around him was what could only be described as ancient ruins, with level after level cascading upwards until it was swallowed by the darkness. Water ran in rivulets down all of the walls, giving the whole area a peaceful background noise, somewhat ironically. Two doors were present, on either side of a larger door, which was apparently blocked, covered with the fallen second story walkway.

Something was tickling the back of his neck.

Shocked, Bruce bolted up quickly, feverishly brushing the back of his neck. 'Blech,' was the word as he grabbed the seaweed that made its temporary home there and discarded it with a weak toss into the darkness in front of him, landing softly. 'Man, it's quiet. I can't stand the quiet...'

"You scared the crap out of me!"

Survival mode kicked in almost instantly, as Bruce jumped up a full foot in the air with a yell before landing again, hitting the floor hard. His heart surged as he jolted to his feet, before he figured out who was talking to him.

Tidus was behind him, breathing heavy, with his hands on his hips, still apparently wet. His sword was planted into the ground beside him.

"Jesus, Tidus!" Bruce sagged, putting his hands on his knees as the adrenaline worked its way through his body. "You just don't go around, yelling like that! You could've given me a heart attack!" His chest rose and fell quickly as he rubbed his rear furiously to stop it from hurting.

Tidus scoffed. "Well, its not like _you_ just got done falling down a crumbling path into water, then fighting a huge creature, then having to enter an unknown cave, only to be scared half to death by a guy seemingly passed out on the floor!" Truth be told, he was still wet, as drops of water were still coming down from his blond hair.

Sea blue eyes met steel gray ones for a long moment, only being interrupted by the occasional drop of water onto the dirt floor. Then, Bruce sighed. 'Gonna have to do something, this silence is killing me.' "Sorry about that, I was just freaked, you know?"

Tidus's defensive stance lessened, as well. "Yeah, well, it doesn't matter, anyways," he gestured to the ruins around him. "Cause I don't even know where I am, or if I'm even still alive." Of course, Bruce already had it figured out. Right next to Baaj Temple, 1,000 years in the future. And on dry land, to Bruce's luck.

"Well, since I'm still alive, and I _don't _see dead people, you're pretty alive to me," Bruce said, taking out the bandana from his pocket, and putting it back onto his head, hiding the dark locks from making their way into his face. As he applied it, he noticed the goosebumps beginning to gather on his arms. 'It's freezing!' he thought as he finished putting on the bandana, and he made his thought known to Tidus, who replied with a "yup."

More silence between the two, before Bruce decided to take the initiative. "Well, there's a fire pit here, so maybe we could find some way to make a fire." Tidus's eyes lit up. "Okay, sounds like a plan! Uh…" he looked around, seeing the two doors on either side of the blocked entrance. "I'll take the right door, and you take the left, and, uh, well, we'll meet back here, okay?" Tidus looked expectantly at Bruce.

This guy is a freaking genius. "No problem, just look hard," he said, aware that it took him over ten minutes to find the stuff, even though it was sitting in front of him. Tidus walked over to the door and grabbed the rusted handle. With a grunt, he shoved the door open with a loud groan at the hinges, and then was gone from sight. Bruce followed suit, and pushed open the door on the left.

The first thing that Bruce noticed about the new room was that it was cluttered. Badly. Stone rubble was seen all over the place, marred to the point of disrepair, and the air itself was stale and overpowering. Water still flowed all over, and some splashed Bruce faintly as it tumbled over a rock above him. Hastily, he moved onwards into the area, boots crunching with every step.

'And I thought my room was bad, at least there was tv there,' he thought as he continued to climb up and down various rubble clusters, all the time being lightly splashed from water all around him. 'This place must have been really cool before everyone decided to go all 'banana' and split.' He smiled, adding a carefree 'nyuk nyuk' as he made his trek deeper in.

After moving for a couple more minutes, he was met with another blockade of rubble in front of him. "Great," he mumbled, "I missed it." Scratching his arm, he turned around, and was met with something new. Under a pile of rubble sat a wooden desk, worn from the water, but still intact. Based on the placement of the stone around it, it would have been missed, had it been seen from the front. The rubble made a sort of cave for it. Bruce scrambled around the hallway, until he was facing it. Opening the drawer, Bruce found what he was looking for. Two egg-shaped rocks, Tinted green at the edges, but gray in the middle. Grinning, he put them in his pouch and made his way back to the room, avoiding the water as much as possible.

Grunting, he pulled the door open by the handle, and it groaned open. Stepping through, Bruce saw Tidus, sitting with his arms crossed in front of him. He was facing away from him, and he seemed to be lost in thought. Bruce walked up to the fire pit, sitting across the fireplace from him. "Hey," Bruce waved to him as he softly landed on the hard dirt. Tidus blinked, clearly startled. He must have been thinking, real hard. "I got some flint stones we can use," he said, taking out the stones with a click.

Tidus smiled. "Great, and I got the tinder we need," he said, gesturing to the dead flowers, now sitting in the middle of the pit. Bruce went into a squatting position, and hastily began to strike the stones together, emitting sparks.

Click, click.

After the third click, the sparks caught, starting a tiny fire at the end of the withered bouquet. Bruce stared at the tiny flame, making sure it caught, then sat back as it began to spread about the whole bouquet, dancing quietly around. As the flame began to grow, Bruce looked again at Tidus, who was once again lost in thought, staring at the flame as it lit up his eyes. 'Should I try to make conversation with him? Sure beats just sitting here, waiting for Rikku to show.'

Bruce cleared his throat. "So, what are you thinking about?"

Tidus looked up at him. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well, you appear to be deep in thought, just wondering if Sin has anything to do with it."

Tidus sighed, moving his hands back to prop him up. "Well, it's not just Sin. I mean, I'm just worried, I guess. I went from star player of the Zanarkand Abes to monster killer in the span of an hour. And now," he looked up at the ceiling, "I don't even know where I am, or for that matter, how I got here. I didn't ask for this." He put his head down, and his voice became quiet. "I didn't ask for my city to be destroyed. It just…isn't fair, is all. I don't understand why it had to happen."

Bruce leaned back, resting his head on the floor and drawing his knees up. "Well, I like to think that all things happen for a reason. And, I know that there has to be a reason why Sin attacked, something that is a lot bigger than you think."

Understatement of the year.

Tidus's eyes glinted with determination. "But at the expense of a whole city? At the expense of my friends? A whole town was decimated!" His voice grew louder, carried by his anger. "Just swallowed up like it was nothing! And you, me, and Auron are the only ones to survive? How can there be a reason for so many to be killed?!" Tidus's voice echoed sharply throughout the dome.

"Well, just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it isn't there," Bruce replied, glad that he took that psychology class in high school. "I mean, who knows, there might be some good that comes out of this. Granted, many people died, but you _lived_. Therefore, there must be some reason why you are still alive." Bruce sat up again, looking at Tidus in the corner of his eye. "Who knows, maybe you'll get answers, once we get out of here." Subconsciously, he looked at the blocked door, waiting for the expected arrival.

"Well, how are you so sure we'll get out of here? I mean, we can't swim out, cause of that huge…thing, waiting for me, and the only other exit is blocked." He resumed to glare at the fire, now going strong. "If you ask me, we've just jumped out of the frying pan, and into the fire."

A long silence followed after, with both of them just staring into the blaze, lost in their own thoughts. Bruce's was on the path ahead of them, while Tidus was still dwelling on the attack just moments ago. Then, Tidus decided to speak.

"So, where are you from, anyways?"

Bruce's eyes shot up to meet his, wide. "Uh…I'm not…from around here," he said finally, after a brief silence. He knew that Tidus wouldn't take that, and he didn't. "Not from around here? What, you mean Zanarkand?" Bruce grabbed that opening. "Yeah, even if I told you, you wouldn't know where it was. It's…kind of hard to find." He concluded, using his truth-stretching skills as well as he could.

The next question, however, he was completely unprepared for. "So, is there Sin where you come from?" Bruce lowered his eyes to the ground in front of him, becoming very interested in his boots. "Well, yeah, a lot of people there know about Sin, and what it does. They know its power, and so, they try to stop it." Save number two.

Tidus kept going, though. "So, how did you get here? Why are you away from there?" Bruce chose his words carefully now. "Well, Sin took me away from my home, and somehow I ended up in Zanarkand, on the outskirts of the city, just as the blitz sphere began to fill up with water. Once inside, I met Auron, and we met you, just as Sin attacked." Bruce smiled inwardly, pleased at his ability to work on the fly.

Tidus nodded lazily, and Bruce saw that he was very close to sleep, his head rested on his knees. Bruce yawned noisily. 'Not a bad idea,' he thought, as he moved to his stomach, and slowly drifted off to sleep, watching the fire dance wildly in front of him.

It seemed like just moments later when he woke up. He hadn't had much sleep at all, and his eyes stung from fatigue. 'I can't even get a good night's sleep in another world.' Rubbing them with a gloved hand, he slowly pushed himself up onto his side. He yawned again, stifling it with his hand, then glanced at Tidus, who was still sleeping.

The once-blazing fire was now just a tiny flame, ready to go out at any time. No fire meant no protection. No protection meant…

Bruce heard a clicking sound traverse the top of the dome. 'Crap,' he thought as he shook the fatigue from his bones quickly and went over to Tidus, giving him a shake. "Tidus, wake up! Wake up!" Tidus woke with a start. "Wha…?' Then, he noticed the fire. Almost knocking Bruce over, he jumped over to it, as if he wasn't asleep just moments earlier. "Hey, wait! Wait! Don't go out on me! Just hold on, I'll get more wood!" Tidus sprang up to go back into the doors, but Bruce placed a firm hand on his shoulder.

"We don't have time for that now, Tidus!" He said to him, still listening to the click-click on the walls, now moving on the walls. "Get your sword, we've got company." Tidus looked at him oddly, giving him a once-over. "What do you mean, company? I don't see…" he trailed off, and Bruce saw his face get pale, then his eyes widen.

He was looking past him, at something over his shoulder. By where he was looking, it was pretty big. The clicking stopped, too.

With no other warning, Bruce immediately pushed Tidus backwards, while he dove to the right. Suddenly, a sharp pain entered his side as he was moving, emitting a cry from Bruce as he landed, somersaulting over to face the thing that attacked him.

Bruce came face to face with another fiend, towering over him by about four feet. Red, tough skin surrounded it, and it walked on four sharp blade-like legs, each one clicking with every step. His head also had a blade sticking out of it. A tail completed it, which waved threateningly behind it. One of the legs were outstretched, with blood at the tip. Had Bruce not moved, that would have pierced his heart, instead of his side.

It let out a hiss, much like a snake, as it skittered to face Bruce. Dark hollows for eyes followed his every move, giving Bruce the creeps a little. It was ready for battle.

Bruce felt the pain still, now a dulling ache in his side. Wincing, he moved his left arm up to the button, feeling the stretch of the cut in his side. He pressed it, giving his whole body a shake. Grabbing the swallow with his right, he released the button, and went into his stance. His side hurt, though. A lot.

Klikk charged, moving at Bruce at a moderate pace, but with a dangerous sort of motion, left a little, right a little, making Bruce unsure of where he would hit. Bruce looked at each foot as it moved closer, with the clicking sound now all he could hear.

Click, click, click. It moved to the left.

Click, click, click. It moved to the right.

Click, click, click, click. One too many.

Bruce immediately ducked, just dodging a lightning quick poke with it's right leg. Using the swallow, he knocked the outstretched leg away, forcing Klikk to rebalance himself with the other three. Running under it, Bruce quickly slashed under it, giving it a minimal scratch under it.

This was gonna be harder than he thought.

Bruce ran through the legs of the fiend, who hissed in retaliation to the scratch. He slowly began to turn around, having to reposition each leg as it moved. 'Wait a minute, he can't pivot! I gotta remember that,' he thought, as he ran towards Tidus, who was grabbing his sword from the ground.

"Bruce, next time, be a little more easy with the pushing," he said with a grunt, pulling the sword out from the ground. "But, thanks." Tidus looked at the monster, now halfway turned around. "Wow, I guess there was someone there, huh?"

Bruce opened his pouch, and searched inside it for a potion. 'If there was some money, I'm sure there's some health stuff…' He wrapped his hand around several vials. 'Bingo.' Withdrawing his hand, he saw the blue liquid that he was accustomed to, as well as one with green liquid, and another with purple in it. Hastily, he put the potion in his teeth, and placed the other two back in his pouch with a clink. Pulling out the cork, he drank about half of it before placing the cap back on. The chill was still odd, but at least he was still standing when it happened. His temperature dropped as well, and Bruce shut his eyes, clearly uncomfortable. After his body returned to normal, Bruce reopened his eyes, with a new vigor, ready to attack. "Tidus!"

"Yeah?"

"Try to get on the opposite side of him, it takes him a while to turn around!"

"Got it!" With that, they began their assault. Tidus moved in front of Klikk, while Bruce sneaked around it, then slashed it in the side. Then, Tidus slashed it when it was facing Bruce. The battle lasted for a good ten minutes, with both sides showing considerable fatigue. 'Where is she?' He asked, after dodging a quick poke from the fiend as Tidus jabbed it in the back.

No sooner as he thought that, the blocked doors blew open with a loud boom, with debris falling all over the place. The monster hesitated for a moment, and this gave Bruce the edge he needed. He went under it again, now fully healed, and tried attacking the underbelly again, where it cut deeply. Klikk hissed loudly, losing its footing for a moment before moving around to face Bruce.

Bruce, however, wasn't interested in the fiend after he came out from under it. 'Excellent,' he thought as he saw the Al Bhed standing at the doorway. Rikku was in front, clad in her wet suit, red shoulder pads and yellow front, black sleeves, and red boots. Behind her, stood four men, all with strange guns.

Tidus, in the meantime, was unsure of who these people were. "Uh, who are you?" he asked, with most of his attention on the fiend, now fully turned around, hissing loudly and froth dripping from its fangs.

Rikku turned to the other Al Bhed, who immediately turned their eyes towards her. Clearly the leader, she spoke to them strongly. "E'mm ramb draca dfu. Cdyhtpo ihdem ed ec tayt." She said. The Al Bhed lowered their guns while she jumped next to Bruce, assuming her fighter stance, one arm hanging loosely, crouching slightly.

Bruce expected some sort of greeting from the girl, but she was now fully interested in Klikk, so he turned back towards Klikk, who was beginning its assault again. He had to tell her the weakness. "Okay, so, the thing is, he is only lethal if you attack from the front. It takes him a while to turn around, so attack from the rear as much as possible." She didn't reply. "Oh, my name's Bruce, by the way," he continued before assuming his stance towards the monster. 'Okay, whatever. Not the time, anyways.'

Tidus glanced from the girl, to Klikk, then back to the girl. "You're on our side? Cool!" he said, moving to attack Klikk from the back.

The battle wore on for many more moments, until soon, Klikk was shaking steadily on its legs, just barely getting attacks in. Its hisses became shaken, and it began to attack wildly, slashing from all directions. "Almost there…" Bruce yelled, preparing another attack.

Rikku ran towards it instead, with her arm claws ready. She began to make a series of wild slashes, seemingly wanting to end the battle then. Bruce looked on as Klikk went down with each attack, closer and closer to its demise. Tidus came in from the back, and slashed sideways at it, resulting in a severe blow.

That was all that it took. Klikk let out a piercing cry, stopping Bruce in his tracks. Letting out a shrill hiss, Klikk began to thrash about wildly, attacking with all its legs as pyreflies began to come out from its form. "Whoa!" Bruce said, dodging the various stabs before retreating to a safer part of the ruins. It stabbed some more, then became slower and slower, as more pyreflies ascended into the air. It never stopped struggling, even as the last of the pyreflies left, leaving only a memory of it in its wake.

Sighing, Bruce wiped the sweat off of his face as he holstered his swallow. 'That was easier than the last one. Maybe I'm ready for this after all,' he thought to himself, dusting off his shorts. Tidus was beaming, as well. "All right! Score one more for the good guys!" He gave Bruce a high five, then looked around. "Uh, where's the new girl?"

Come to think of it, he hasn't seen her since she attacked the last time…. He looked around, then saw her…

Laying where the fiend disappeared, holding her heart in pain. Her gloves were damp with blood.

Terror seized Bruce as he ran towards her. 'Crap, she can't die this early. Then again, she can't die at all!' He knelt down in front of her, lifting her up to a sitting position before fishing in his bag for the rest of that potion. She was biting her lip, and trembling, clutching her heart weakly. Blood seeped through her fingers as Bruce found the vial in his pouch.

Popping the cork, he gently used his hand to lift her face toward his. Her goggles were still on, so he couldn't tell if she even saw him, but he still had to try. "Here, drink this, you'll feel better," he said, moving the vial to her lips, with the liquid ready to go down. He slowly lifted it a little bit, to be sure she would swallow. A moment went by, before she finally registered it and the liquid began to flow towards her throat. Bruce poured the rest down, careful not to go too fast, and soon, the rest of the vial was empty.

Rikku suddenly shuddered, the effects of the vial going through her. She moved both her hands to her chest, giving a small grunt. "Don't worry, it's just part of the potion, it'll be gone soon." He said, giving her a sympathetic pat on the back. 'So, after, this, we get taken onto the ship. But, I don't wanna be knocked out, so I better make a good first impression,' he thought as he rubbed her back soothingly.

Soon, she stopped shivering. Bruce stood back up, leaving her to get up on her own. She hesitantly looked down at her clothes, still stained with blood, but with no wound. She flexed her hands a couple of times, then sprang to her feet, with an energy that Bruce knew was pure Rikku. She turned around to look at Bruce, who nodded politely. 'Too bad her goggles are on, her eyes are cute,' he thought. She walked up to him slowly, somewhat hesitantly. Bruce read her body language easily. "Hey, I'm not your enemy, okay? I'm a friend. So is Tidus." She kept walking towards him, and stopped, just a foot in front of him, eyeing him strangely. "Uh…" He cautiously took a step back. He never was good with the whole closeness thing. "Thanks again for helping out."

"Kad yfyo vnus ran, veaht!" He heard someone say.

As he turned around, he came face to face with the butt of a gun. Hard. Blinding red filled his vision as he sank to the floor.

Then, everything turned black as the void returned once again to claim him.

Author's notes: Okay, got this one cranked out finally.

The Al Bhed parts aren't very important to know, and I assume that you figured out when Rikku spoke, she told them to stand down, since they lowered their guns. Oh, and before Bruce got knocked out, he heard "Get away from her, fiend!" Yeah, I'm not entirely sure on how to do the Al Bhed parts hereafter, so tell me what is ideal for you in your reviews!

Thanks to everyone for reviewing. Some of them gave me a whole lot to think about (i.e. Kitrice) and others just gave me reason to keep writing. More are always needed, so please make sure to tell your buddies to read as well! I will be adapting the reviews so that anyone can review it, so I can get more of a perspective from the non-authors out there. As always, constructive criticism is always appreciated, cause I need pointers, too! Thanks for reading!


	6. Emerald

Final Fantasy: Revisited

Disclaimer: Even though the idea of Rikku in my next birthday cake sounds appetizing, I can't do it! Cause I don't own her, or any other part of FFX.

Chapter 6: Emerald

"Ooh…" Bruce woke up in pain. His head was throbbing with a migraine that showed no sign of lessening up. It didn't hurt that the first things he saw were the bright lights above him, bearing down on him mercilessly. Immediately, he shut his eyes, already feeling the tears coming to his sensitive eyes. It took a while before he figured out where he was exactly, and why his head hurt.

Then, the last five minutes finally hit him, and he winced again.

'That guy hit me with a gun!' Bruce thought angrily. 'No one hits me! Why didn't Rikku stop him?' He opened his eyes again, this time downcast to the hard, metallic floor. 'Then again, I guess it had to happen…' He sat in the dark corner of the boat, getting his eyes used to the new darkness. 'Too bad they don't have anything for migraines here,' he thought. Lifting a shaky hand, he rested it on the box next to him for support.

Once his eyes readjusted, he looked at his surroundings. Yup, he was on the boat, all right. The gray sky above him gave the whole atmosphere a cool one, and the wind was hitting his face lightly. The Al Bhed that were in the ruins were there, all in a group about 10 feet away. There were also others that Bruce didn't see, who were stationed nearby, looking into the sea casually.

One of them was holding a weapon.

Bruce's face showed a mask of shock as he slowly moved his arm around to his back. His swallow wasn't there, as he expected. He'd get it back from that guy, though.

Tidus was there, as well. Only he was unconscious, sprawled out on the floor. His sword was laying next to him.

To Bruce's right, there was a staircase, leading to the front of the ship. Sitting on top was a massive machine, most likely a crane, based on how it looked. Various metal crates and boxes were scattered around the ship, all worn from years of use. They still looked in good shape, though.

The one next to him was different from all the rest, though. More rounded at the top, and wooden, based on the feel. Raising his eyes again, he looked over to his rested arm, and silently moved it back to his side. It looked like a chest.

_It looked like a chest._ Bruce would have paid it less mind, had his subconscious not kept repeating that inside his head until he clocked in. _A chest.__ A chest…_Bruce almost hit himself when it finally clicked in his head. It was a chest! 'Bruce…yeah…you're an idiot, you know?...yup, last time I checked…' Bruce said mentally, knocking his hand on his head quietly. 'Well, better open it.'

Before his hand could reach the front, Tidus started to groan. All of the Al Bhed moved into a circle around him, with Rikku next to him in the middle. Quickly, he lowered his hand. He didn't want the same attention Tidus was about to get.

Tidus sat up, and shook his head free of the fatigue. Looking up at the Al Bhed, he began to stand up, before one of them pushed him back down. Hard. "Ced, lybdeja!" He spat, regarding him like he would a stray animal. Tidus fell back with a loud thud, making Bruce wince from behind the chest. "Hey, that hurts!" He exclaimed, rubbing his butt unceremoniously.

"Hu sujehk, rayn?" The Al Bhed continued, moving his hand casually to his gun at his side, most likely a warning sign. Tidus caught it, though. "Whoa, okay." He held up his hands in a surrender motion, and then lay still.

Meanwhile, Bruce was still feigning unconsciousness, all the while with his eyes slightly open to see everything that went on. Luckily, no one even remembered he was still there. 'What are they saying? I don't remember the beginning well,' he thought, sneaking looks at everyone on board, mostly the one with his swallow. 'I need those primers if I'm gonna get the most out of this at all,' he thought, as they moved Tidus up and began to search him.

Rikku was looking straight at Bruce, with a faint smile on her lips.

'Shit!' was all he thought as he shut his eyes again, slowly moving back to an unconscious position. 'Maybe she won't notice…' He counted the seconds now, each one seeming like minutes until he would get roughed up. He heard grunting sounds in the middle of the circle, and Tidus was shouting as well. Bruce opened one eye slightly to see what was happening.

Rikku wasn't looking at him anymore. Now, her attention was on Tidus, who was trying to understand the guy making the seemingly random gestures with his hands. He mimicked swimming, then pointed at Tidus, grunting each time. 'Oh, _now _it makes sense,' he thought.

The puzzled look on Tidus' face said it all, but he still responded with a "right, whatever." At this, the man's face turned slightly darker than usual, and the lines on his forehead could be seen easily. "Tu oui hud cbayg?" He said, somewhat icily, and once again started to reach Tidus, fishing a necklace out of his pocket and shaking it at Tidus, grunting incoherently.

Bruce looked on from the confines of his corner, watching now with both eyes wide open. He scooted forwards slightly, trying to get the blood flowing in his legs, now tingling with the familiar sensation of sleep. 'Man, I'm getting tired of sitting,' he thought, scratching his arms subconsciously. 'I'd rather be in the game than just watching it.' He kept watching.

Tidus was getting frustrated, though, and his eyebrows turned down slightly as he glared back at the man. "I said I don't understand!" he said, a little louder than before. The Al Bhed, apparently, had no tolerance for ignorance, as he picked up his gun and aimed it at Tidus. "Ehcumahla!" He shouted, pointing the gun at his chest, emitting a cry from Tidus.

'Now's my chance,' Bruce said, and quickly stood up. He thought it was quieter than usual, but suddenly five of the men were standing around him, guns drawn, and ready to fire. "Hey, I'm unarmed! Don't shoot!" he said, feeling his body temperature begin to swell. He tried to look them in the eyes, but the blade on one of the guns went to his neck, pressing in slightly.

There they were, both with guns to their chests, both unarmed, and both trying to understand the new language. The tension in the air was only increased by the sudden cease of movement all over the boat, as everyone was looking at the both of them. The only noise was the occasional wave hitting the sides of the boat, and the cry of a lone seagulls overhead. 'Well, if I wasn't close to messing myself now, this would be pretty cool.'

"Uh, Tidus, by the way, they said that if you helped them work, you wouldn't get shot," Bruce said, resulting in an extra hard poke by the knife into his neck. He hissed loudly, and was sure it drew blood then. He closed his eyes, unable to take the tension of the scene any more, waiting for the blade to make his way home into his neck.

"Fyed!" a girl's voice said. Like the sun cutting the night, her voice rang throughout the whole ship, and everyone jumped a little, including the gunners. After a few more intense moments, they reluctantly lowered their weapons, leaving Tidus and Bruce the room to move a little. Tidus readjusted his clothes, and Bruce leaned onto the chest, letting his heart drop back down from his throat. He put his hand to his neck, and indeed, there was a little cut that formed along his chin. Then, he looked up to the men, still with their guns in their hands. "You better show some respect, I'm going to be the one saving all your asses!" he muttered sarcastically, ready to take them all on at once. At least, before he remembered his swallow was in the hands of one of the guys at the far end.

Rikku turned to Tidus. "Your friend is right, you can stay if you make yourself useful," she said, moving casually to one of the near gunman and touched the gun, lowering it even further. Tidus was bewildered. "You…you understand him?" But before she could respond, a still seething Al Bhed moved behind him, shoving him roughly with the butt of his gun in his back. "All right, I'll work!" he said, still a bit pissed at the whole ordeal.

Bruce could only laugh. "Tidus, calm down, man, it's all good," he said, walking over to the boy and giving him a playful shove on his shoulder. "At least they didn't cut you, I wasn't as lucky," he said, showing him the cut on his chin. "But, hey, I'm still laughing. Just calm down, man!" He said, seeing Tidus soften up a little bit.

Tidus laughed a little. Then Bruce did. Then, they both erupted into a fit of giggles and playful punches that could only be described as insanity. Even though nothing was really funny about the whole thing, he needed to laugh. Why? Because he just avoided death, and it was his defense mechanism working overtime.

After the laughs died, they both looked over to Rikku, who was watching them intently. "You two are…" she put a finger to her chin, "odd." Then, she giggled a little bit before walking off, leaving both guys confused. Tidus began to walk over to the crane. "Uh, Tidus, I wouldn't…" Bruce attempted, but it was too late. He was already walking over to the crane, and Bruce could only watch.

"What is this, some kind of crane?" He asked, knocking on it with a gloved finger. An Al Bhed quickly moved in between him and the crane, almost just appeared there, making Tidus back away a little bit. "Rao, oui! Kad yfyo vnus drana!" The Al Bhed spat, shooing him away with his hand.

Shaking his head, Bruce looked away from Tidus, back to the chest that was sitting in the corner, taunting him. The wind was starting to pick up a bit, and a lot of the Al Bhed in towards the middle of the boat, so as not to get blown over into the sea. 'Better now than never, he thought, as he slowly dipped into his pouch, and fished out one of the coins he still had. He began to flip it nonchalantly, then catching it in his palm securely. Some of the Al Bhed noticed the faint ringing of the coin, and looked over to where Bruce stood. 'No biggie, just flipping a coin, no big deal,' he thought, as he tried his best to look casual as he kept flipping it, humming softly to himself. After a brief moment, they finally looked away, no longer interested. 'Bingo,' he thought, as he flipped it some more, each time more towards the chest, so that he had to step forwards to catch it. 'Always make it look natural,' he mused, stepping closer each time.

When he finally was within reach of it, he flipped the coin again, and let it slip through his hands, hitting the floor, bouncing, and then rolling to a halt in front of the chest. "Oops," he said casually. Looking around once more, he casually bent down to pick it up. As he was bent over, he slowly moved a gloved hand towards the front of the chest, where a rusted latch covered the opening. He flipped it quickly, and taking one more cautious look around him, began to open it. 'Money in the bank.'

"You're pretty good at that, you know?" Hand in the cookie jar.

At the first words, he shot upright, coin in hand tightly. 'I almost had it!' Slowly, he turned around to see Rikku, hands on her hips, and looking at him with a cryptic glare. Her goggles were on her head now, removed from her eyes. Did she see him? He decided to play along for a while, to gauge exactly what she saw. "Good at what?" He asked, thumbing the coin in his hand nervously. Steady, steady.

"At flipping the coin, silly!" She replied, still giving him that sideways glance. He tried not to sigh with relief, but his guarded stance gave way a little bit. There still was hope for that chest, after all. "Well, I suppose so," he said, moving away from the chest little by little, still clutching the coin in his hands. "I need something to do when not saving Tidus from something or other," he said, trying to lighten the mood a little.

Rikku smiled politely, and moved her hands from her hips to her sides. Her posture showed that she wanted to talk to him about something. He'd seen the same posture from his sisters. He gulped, and his apple bobbed up and down. 'Maybe I can get her to give me back my weapon! Worth a shot,' he thought, moving to sit on one of the crates, his ankles hanging over the edge as he peered at the water. To his surprise, she moved as well, and sat on the crate next to his. The wind blew her golden hair lightly as she gazed out towards the ocean, under the blanket of gray clouds.

She started to talk. "Tidus?" She asked. "You mean…the other guy you were with?" Bruce nodded. "I see…" she looked over to Bruce from the corner of her eyes. "Well, it's good to have you both aboard!" she said cheerfully, smiling broadly. Bruce looked over at her for a second, then back at the sea.

"Uh, thanks," was all he said, before they both were looking out at the sea in silence again. 'Maybe she still wants to talk about something?' he thought, as they kept looking out at the sea. 'Oh, I'm no good at this…' he cleared his throat softly, and looked over at Rikku. "So, uh, what exactly were you doing at the ruins?" He asked, already knowing full well of the answer. He needed to jump start this conversation.

Rikku looked over at him. "Well, we were in the middle of a salvaging expedition to locate some _really_ old machina," she started, using her hands energetically to help explain. "And, we narrowed the location down to the general location. But then, Brother," she gestured over to him, who was busy with the crane, "wanted to stop 'cause his stomach was getting queasy. We rarely get on a boat, you know," she paused, waiting for Bruce's nod before continuing. "Anyways, we spotted some land in the distance, so we moved the boat over there and got off, and then we hear some shouting in the distance," she paused to take a sip of water in a canteen she had, then continued. "So, we decide to investigate, so me and some other armed guys entered a tunnel. Before long, we hit a roadblock, where some rocks blocked the entrance. So, I whip out one of my grenades," She flashed one at him before putting it back," put it at the entrance, and boom!" She made a wide gesture. "The rocks are gone, and we see you and…Tidus fighting the fiend." She took a deep breath afterwards.

'So that's how it goes,' Bruce thought. He's knew why they were there, but he always wondered why they blew it up to begin with. "So that's how you got there," he replied, moving his gaze back towards the sea slowly. "Well, it's a good thing you did, or else who knows what would have happened," he said, feeling Rikku's gaze on him. "So, uh, thanks." He nervously began to flip the coin again, waiting for the scrutiny to stop.

She deftly grabbed the coin in mid-flight, breaking Bruce's concentration. His eyes followed the path of her hand, now extended in front of him, up to her face. She was looking right at him. Her eyes…that was the first thing that came to his mind. Even though the clouds took most of their luster away, he did notice the green spirals there. They were stunning. Almost enchanting, seeming to pull him in the more he looked at them, like two precious gems. "Why are you thanking me?" she asked quietly, holding the lock their eyes were in. "I almost died in that cave, but you saved me." Bruce widened his eyes slightly, and opened his mouth to speak, but she interrupted him. "I know you didn't have to, but you still did, and that means a lot to me."

Bruce shook his head slightly, putting a gloved hand on his forehead. He never took compliments well. "Nah, I know you're a lot tougher than to let a little poke like _that_ kill ya," he said as he poked her shoulder with his hand, emitting a smile from her in return. He had to diffuse this moment, he was starting to get nervous. "I just had the potion on me, and I didn't have any use for it. Also…" his grin widened a little bit. "…I couldn't bear to watch someone with such pretty eyes get hurt," he finished, with a hint of mischief apparent on his face.

Rikku's mouth opened slightly, clearly shocked, and it was clear that she understood the compliment, because her face began to blush furiously. "Uh, hmm, I, uh…" she stammered, trying to hide her burning face with her hands. "We'd better get started," she finally let out, before turning away from Bruce and walking over to where Tidus was sitting. Bruce was wearing a full-on 1000-watt inducing smile as he got up from the crate to join her.

'I better be careful, or I'll start to actually like this girl.'

Author's Notes:

Well, here's a little bit of some relief for those who have been waiting for an update. I am truly, truly sorry, but there were several factors that stopped me from posting. For starters, I was locked in a heated debate on what to include and not include in the story. In the end, I decided to take the aspects created for the game style of FFX, i.e. Save Spheres and Sphere Grid, and toss them. I know, lots of you are waiting for those things, but hear me out!

The story is not that Bruce gets stuck in the game, moreso that the lines between reality and fiction were intertwined, and he was caught in the crossfire. Long story short, it didn't seem 'real' to have him put a sphere in a grid and have him instantly learn a move. Nor did it seem 'real' for him to be able to live again after he was killed. As the voice said at the beginning, there was a chance he could be killed, and the Sphere Grid would've contradicted that. So, the Sphere Grid and Save Spheres are gone. However, more realistic ideas, such as learning a language through the Al Bhed Primers, seemed more likely, since it would have been just like picking up a book on Spanish or French in the real world.

Yeah, it's confusing, but don't worry. The story won't suffer from it. There will still be the aspect of people's skills getting better as the game goes on, I just won't be using the Sphere Grid to do it. So, with the extra long segment of Author's Notes draws to a close, I would like to thank your devotion to the fic. I was experiencing some serious writer's block, and each paragraph seemed forced for a while, which was why it took a while to finish it. Also, the story ran too far, so I just decided to cut it halfway here. The second half is a few days away, so keep on looking for it! I need to know if any of the characters are OOC at all, cause I want this to be as close as I can get, so anything that doesn't settle right with anyone, feel free to ping me on it. As always, criticism is always appreciated (even though I haven't got any yet, I'm not that good, guys 8v)) and your reviews are needed, you are just as important to the advancement of the story as I am! Keep spreading the word!


	7. Rosetta

Final Fantasy: Revisited

Disclaimer: Even though the idea of Rikku in my next birthday cake sounds appetizing, I can't do it! Cause I don't own her, or any other part of FFX.

Chapter 7: Rosetta

Bruce sighed as he sat atop another crate, already bored with flipping coins. "They've been down there forever," he groaned to no one in particular. He glanced down at the sea below, where Tidus and Rikku dove to activate the ancient ruins some time ago. He managed to convince her to remain on the boat, where he would be monitoring the crane's pressure once they were ready to pull it up. 'Too bad it won't go that far,' he thought, drumming his fingers methodically on his crate. Most of the Al Bhed, by this time, were inside, waiting for the two to get back, leaving just Brother outside, fiddling with the crane's controls.

Sighing again, he leaned all the way back, resting his head on the cold steel before sighing again. 'I could always go for that chest again,' he thought, putting his hands to his eyes. He remained there for several more seconds before standing to his feet. 'Beats the hell out of sitting here.' After a quick look over to Brother, who was now using a wrench to force open a control panel, he moved silently over to the chest, careful not to step on any of the various tools strewn about the ship.

'Finally,' he thought as he squatted at the front of it, resting his hands on his knees as he eyed the front. After taking a quick breath, he lifted the rusted latch with a soft squeak. He took another precautionary look around, then lifted the latch up all the way. Bruce moved onto his knees as he rested his hands over the wood, and pushed it open. Surprisingly, it didn't take a whole lot of effort, even though it looked like it was rusted shut. 'Money in the bank,' he thought in his head, peering into the chest intently.

Inside, placed atop some old red rags, were three vials, each one holding blue liquid, and a deep blue pouch, which looked like it was made of silk, with a golden drawstring to keep it shut. He grabbed the potions quickly, placing them inside his pocket. 'Now, what's inside the pouch?' he thought. As he grabbed it, however, his question was answered as he felt the weight drop to the bottom with a clink. 'Okay, who doesn't need more money?' Careful not to make any noise, he just put the whole pouch in his larger pouch. That could wait until later. He closed the chest softly, and turned to go back to his perch, when something caught his eye, placed right next to where he woke up.

Something was on the ground. 'A pamphlet?' he wondered as he moved closer to it. As he got closer, he noticed that it was, contrary to the rest of the ship, in really good shape, as if it was just dropped there not long ago. All that was on the cover was a blue '1'. Bending over, he deftly grabbed it, turned, and went back over to the iron cast crate, resuming his steadfast gaze over the ocean.

'What do we have here?' he glanced down at the pamphlet, now at his side. Bruce fiddled with the pages for several seconds, but still wasn't able to open it. 'Damn gloves,' he grunted as he grabbed one in his teeth, and pulled it off, exposing his hand for the first time since he put them on. 'Wow, these gloves sure are airy,' he thought sarcastically, wiping it on his shorts before returning to the pamphlet. With a casual flip, he opened the first page.

Two letters, one on each page. A on the left, and Y on the right. Nothing else.

'Uh, okay…' he scratched his head before moving his attention back to the leaflet. After flipping to the next page, however, he figured out what it was. Listed on the second page were two lists of words, right next to each other. Listed on the first page were about 25 words, still in the barely legible script, but still able to understand. Words like 'hello' and 'you' were the first on the page, with the words 'rammu' and 'oui' listed right next to it. 'Oh, a primer! Sweet, something to do' he gazed at the words intently, as the ship moved in time to the waves slowly.

He was so lost in the pamphlet, he almost missed the lights coming on under him, deep in the sea. As if waking up from a trance, he snapped to attention when the light hit his eyes. 'Jeez, how long have I been staring at this?' he thought to himself as he gazed past it to the sea floor, seeing the airship begin to glow to life. It was only a matter of time, now.

Suddenly, all of the Al Bhed that were inside the ship moved out the door, all of them talking energetically. He didn't need to know the language to know they were psyched at their find. He placed the Primer inside his pouch, noting quickly that it was getting pretty heavy.

The men on the ship seemed to pay him no mind as they moved frantically over to the side of the ship, gazing down at the airship with wonder. 'Well, at least they killed that octo-thing,' he continued to stare at the sea, waiting for the two to return. 'About time they got it done, I am bored to tears here!' Stretching his arms out, he let out a loud yawn and jumped off the crate, moving towards the back of the boat, where Tidus and Rikku dove off of, and where he wouldn't get in the way. "Bored…" he said aloud, sitting on the edge , where his feet dangled above the water's edge.

Man, who knew that the adventure of a lifetime could be so unbearably boring?

Just then, one of the voices could be overheard across the ship. "Rikku ryc nadinhat!" was what it said. Bruce looked over to see a bunch of the men running towards the sound of the voice. He didn't understand Al Bhed, but he knew the word Rikku. 'Finally,' he thought as the splashes of water were heard on the other side, followed by cheering and applause. He resumed his gaze on the water, trying to ignore the now grumbling stomach of his.

It wasn't long before he heard Tidus behind him, the sound of wet boots squishing on the metal along with mild panting. "Whoo, that was interesting," he said, joining him at the edge. Bruce looked over to him. He looked just like he did in the ruins, his platinum hair dripping with water, him a little flustered. Bruce let out a 'hmm' and looked again at the sea before him. He really had no energy for small talk.

After a little moment of silence, Tidus spoke again. "Well, aren't you gonna ask what happened?" Tidus asked. Bruce already had a great idea of what happened down there, considering he knew just about everything about Spira. However, he didn't want to sound like a jerk, so he nodded slightly, and put his 'oh, that's interesting' look on his face, ready for Tidus to go off.

And off he went, explaining to the detail the sheer size of the ruins, how technologically advanced it was, the many fish fiends they had to fight, and oh the girl's really good at swimming, she even had grenades she used to make it easier, and oh there was this huge fiend and they had to go on either side to kill it. Bruce made occasional comments to keep him moving on with the story, but he was more interested in the fact that the ship went deathly silent shortly after they surfaced. Turning his head slightly, he saw that the ship was deserted, save them. Everyone else was inside, probably eating themselves a feast. On cue, his stomach rumbled loudly.

Tidus heard it, too, putting a screeching halt to his story. "Gee, thanks, Bruce, now I remember that I'm hungry, too," he said, clutching his hands to his stomach, which was rumbling very loudly. "Man, I haven't eaten since I was in Zanarkand." Bruce clenched his fist.

Bruce made a mental note to kill his sisters for eating those Lunchables.

Gritting his teeth, Bruce stood up, unable to sit while his stomach did numbers on his system. "Well, talking about it won't make it any easier, Tidus," he winced, smoothing his clothes absent-mindedly. "Trust me, I'm sure they won't forget about us. I mean, you did help them out and everything, and they're not completely heartless." He sighed audibly, making Tidus look over his shoulder at him. "And how are you so sure? It's not like they've been especially nice to us so far." Tidus said, rising from his perch to join Bruce, now walking towards the closed metal door.

"Well, I think that for all the bad, good makes its place right next to it. So," Bruce replied, leaning on the metallic door idly, "for all the crap you go through, there's gotta be something good that comes from it." That, and he knew that Rikku was right on the other side of the door, at anytime coming out with some food. "We should just chill out here for a little bit. Try to get some sleep or something, ya know, to get the hunger out of our minds?" Bruce slipped down to the floor, his knees in front of him. Tidus went to the other side, leaning on a crate as he yawned. "Yeah, I am kinda tired from fighting that thing." He rested his head on his knees. "You got it really easy, you know…" he muttered.

"Yeah, I know."

"I mean, sure, the fact that you don't like to swim is all right, but both times I had to, you were safe somewhere, lying around." As an afterthought, he muttered, "I was a star, you know…" and with that, Tidus's eyes drifted closed, and with a few more incoherent mumbles, nodded off to sleep.

Bruce, however, didn't go to sleep right away. Instead, he rested his arms across his knees, serving as a place for him to set his head. Feeling the wind slowly swirl around him, he concentrated on the horizon, now an endless sea of gray resting on top of the ocean. He listened to the waves as they chopped against the boat, a steady resonance that was the only sound that Bruce could hear.

As he sat there, stray thoughts began to slowly surface themselves in his mind, ones that were late in coming for this new predicament he was in. So far, he was able to escape with little more than a scratch, but he hasn't had to fight the likes of Seymour, Jecht, or any serious guys yet, anyways. What would death feel like? What if he was petrified? How did he get in Spira? When will he leave? When will Rikku show up with the food?

His eyes changed in a moment, intensity focusing on the horizon.

Rikku.

Even with playing through the whole game with her at the forefront of almost every battle, he still hadn't been prepared to actually meet her face to face. It was one thing to see someone, and another to actually _see_ someone, especially one who didn't really exist.

Nonetheless, an hour ago, she was thanking him for saving her life.

The notion almost made him laugh. It was absurd. The whole thing was. He was sucked into a television, given a weapon, and told to scour the depths of a world that was entirely fictional, with an 'elite' team of a witch, a jock, a dream, a zombie, a girl destined to die, an overgrown cat, and a mechanic, and it was all thought up by a team and some nerds with too much knowledge on how to make water fall just the right way. This _couldn't_ be happening.

But, those scratches didn't cut themselves, and he was too hungry for it to be a dream.

His gaze over the sea transferred, moving towards Tidus, who was now in a state of unconsciousness, towards the crane, and down to his arms. "Am I losing it? Is this even real?" He asked out loud, to no one in particular. The only answer given was a cry of a gull in the far distance, before it was swallowed up by the waves yet again.

At first, he was thrilled to be a part of one of his favorite games. Heck, nothing else was going on in his life that couldn't have waited for a month or so. Graduation was long gone, and he did little else with his time other than working or sleeping. Life as a whole was getting duller by the day, even with his sisters making a few irregularities every now and then. This was a considerable change of pace for him. He wasn't in a relationship, either…

Considering what happened on _that_ day, the day after graduation.

Bruce's face darkened as he remembered each detail of that day, the three waffles he had for breakfast, the stray dog that he almost hit on the way to work…

Before he could dwell any further on that subject, the metal door next to him clicked loudly, quickly bringing him out of his thoughts with a jolt. He heard a muffled "hmm?" next to him, and saw that Tidus was awake as well, blinking the excess fatigue out of his system. "Hope it's food," he said, still fighting his way out of his nap as the door opened to reveal Rikku, holding two plates in her hands. "hot, hot, hot, hot," she said as she quickly bent over to drop the two plates of food at the feet of the two, as she blew on her hands with short breaths. She noticed the two staring at her incredulously, before she shyly spoke. "Hehe, hot plates, hot hands."

Tidus, however, was no longer listening to her. He was enamored with the plate at his feet. Had he been a dog, he'd be drooling. Then, the aroma hit his nostrils, making them flare up a bit. Abruptly, he changed. "Food!" he yelled out, scaring both Bruce and Rikku, who were looking at him oddly. Without any other premonition, he dove, literally head first into the array of items on his plate, his lips smacking audibly as he began to scarf everything up.

"Woah, man, its just food," Bruce chuckled to himself, then looked down to see what was on the plate, ending his newfound humor. 'eew,' he cringed mentally as he saw the contents: Something vaguely resembling chicken, some orange sticks, most likely carrots, and some yellowish goop. 'Oh, well, I guess beggars can't be choosers,' he thought with a grimace as he began to plunge his ungloved hand into the goop, before a feminine voice stopped him.

"What are you doing?" Rikku asked, prompting Bruce to look up at her. He gulped before replying. "Uh, eating."

"With your hands?"

"…that's what you're supposed to do, right?" Even as he was asking that question, he knew he would regret it. Rikku stood, dumbfounded for a second before exploding in laughter, grabbing her sides as she tried to keep herself up. He began to feel the heat rushing to his cheeks, before her laughter died down into giggles. "No," she said while giggling, "that's what these are for," she broke into another laughing fit, moving one hand from her side out to him, displaying a utensil, something that vaguely resembled a spoon. He let out a weak 'oh' before taking it from the girl, now bent over with silent giggles, her body shaking as she tried to control herself.

Tidus was still engrossed in his food, taking handfuls at a time and stuffing it into his mouth. Vague sounds of pleasure escaped his mouth in between bites. "fss ish goo," he murmered in between smacks. 'Like he's never seen food before,' Bruce thought, slightly embarrassed at his partner's actions.

Then, he stopped eating, right in the middle of reaching for more food. His eyes shot up to Bruce, and he looked alarmed, even panicked. Bruce cocked his head at him questioningly when Tidus didn't say anything more. His face began to grow red. Bruce's eyes widened.

Tidus was choking.

His face was now a deep red, and he let out a strangled cry as he began to pound on his chest, trying to force something down. Then, he looked over to Rikku, moving his hands towards his mouth, then pointing down his throat. Rikku looked over to Bruce. "Uh, what's he doing?"

"Uh, I'm not sure…" he said, hiding a grin. "Maybe he's trying to play a game?"

Rikku's eyes lit up. "Ooh, a game! I love games!" Tidus's eyes widened as he heard her, letting out another cry. "Okay, um…" she looked at Tidus. "It's a guessing game, right?"

Bruce joined in, trying not to laugh out loud. "Uh, okay….throat? Jackal? Horse?"

"Oh, oh, it's blitzball!" Rikku said, emitting another cry from Tidus, who was now beginning to turn purple, shaking his head quickly. "No? Okay…your mouth?"

Bruce decided to give in, considering his eyes were fluttering slightly. "You're choking?"

Tidus nodded furiously, his body sinking to the floor.

"Hey, Rikku, I think he wants a drink of water."

"Oh. Okay!" she took her canteen off and handed it to Tidus, who yanked the cap off and began downing it fully, rivulets running down his chin. Bruce let out a sigh as he saw the water flowing, then trickling off until there were only drops coming out. That was his water, too.

Tidus let out a big breath when he finished the water, coughing in between breaths. He tossed the canteen away, landing to the ground with a loud 'clink' as it skittered to a halt in front of a crate. "Are…you…people…dense?" He gasped, holding his throat with one hand while supporting himself with the other. "I…could have…died…" he wheezed, glaring daggers at Bruce and Rikku, who in turn looked at each other for answers. Rikku's apologetic look did nothing for the situation, so Bruce decided to answer.

"Well, if you didn't eat the food too fast, then you wouldn't have choked, Tidus," Bruce extended a hand to Tidus, who in turn stared at it, then back to Bruce. "Hey, you know I wouldn't have let you choked to death right? I mean, were buds! Compadres!" Tidus made no move. "…and besides, you were still making noises, if you were really choking, you wouldn't have been able to speak at all."

Tidus looked on solemnly for a moment more, then broke into a grin. "Dude, next time you do that, I won't hesitate to mess you up, I'm serious," he said, grabbing Bruce's outstretched hand and pulling himself up. "I'm just glad she had her canteen when she did," he looked over to Rikku, who looked away sheepishly.

"Hey…"

Tidus' face furrowed with confusion. "Hey, who are you, anyways?"

Rikku gave a small quick wave to Tidus. "I'm Rikku," she said, giving a quick wink.

Tidus let out a whoop. "You really do understand!" he exclaimed, beaming. "Why didn't you say so earlier?"

She looked to the floor, then back to Tidus. "I didn't get a chance to! Everybody thought oui were a fiend." Tidus immediately gave her a look of confusion. "Uh…'we?'"

Bruce, who before was watching the familiar dialogue take place, decided to step in. "Oui is Al Bhed for 'you,' Tidus." They both looked at him, shocked expressions plastered on both their faces. Then, Bruce realized his mistake. "Erh, it was in context. I just deciphered it," he said, giving a weak chuckle. He mentally chastised himself. He had to be more careful with what he knew. Think twice, speak once.

It didn't look like either one bought it, but they let it slide, turning once more to each other. "I'm Tidus," he said, extending a hand to Rikku, who accepted it. "Nice to meet you. And this is…" he gestured to Bruce, who offered a hand to Rikku as he spoke.

"Bruce," Rikku said, grabbing his hand and squeezing it lightly before letting it go.

Bruce's eyes opened wide. "How do...how do you know my name?"

Rikku smiled. "Well, you did tell me when we were fighting ol' Spidey back in the ruins, right? I have a pretty good memory, ya know," she pointed to her head.

"Oh. Right."

Tidus jumped in, breaking the awkward moment. "Bruce said you were something… Ali Bead?" he asked, scratching his head. Bruce groaned.

"We're _Al Bhed_, Can't you tell?" She said, playfully batting her emerald eyes at him. "Wait…You're not an Al Bhed hater, are you?" She crossed her arms in front of her defensively, obviously ready for a verbal fight.

Tidus threw up his hands. "I don't even know what an Al Bhed is."

Bruce spoke up. "Well, you can tell an Al Bhed by their eyes. Only Al Bhed have the green eyes that Rikku has." He looked over to Rikku and smiled, who smiled back at him before returning. "And, well, they're not well respected around here, due to various reasons." Better let the story tell itself and not spoil it for him.

Rikku looked over to Bruce. "Well, you sure do know a lot more about us then Tidus does," she said, placing her hands on her hips. "Where are you from, exactly?" Bruce gulped. "Uh, you wouldn't even know it if I told you, hehehe…" he glanced nervously to Tidus, who also was looking at him questioningly. "It's pretty far away from here, so…" Bruce looked up at Rikku, his full poker face on. Maybe she would buy it.

She sighed loudly. "Okay, whatever you say, Bruce. And you," she turned to Tidus, much to Bruce's relief. "Are you also from a far away land, or do you actually belong somewhere?"

"Zanarkand," Tidus beamed, puffing out his chest for added effect. "I'm a blitzball player. Star player of the Zanarkand Abes!"

The silence that ensued after was not as much annoying as it was awkward. Rikku stared down at the floor, suddenly interested in her boots. Tidus still had his hands on his hips, but his confidence was wiped from his face, replaced with uncertainty. Bruce, on the other, hand, was looking back and forth between the two. Somebody had to say something, or he'd go nuts. He couldn't, or that would only be more questioning. Guess he just had to wait.

After a couple more seconds of silence, Rikku looked back up. "Did…did you hit your head or something?" she asked meekly, almost afraid to ask. "Well, you guys hit me," Tidus replied, as quiet and unsure as Rikku did. Rikku shifted her feet slowly. "Oh, right…" The concern couldn't be ignored from her face. "Do you remember anything before that?"

So, for the next ten minutes or so, Tidus spoke about life as a superstar in Zanarkand. He spoke with such enthusiasm and vigor that Bruce almost forgot that such a place with dazzling lights and gorgeous sunsets didn't really exist, even less than the ship he was standing on. He watched him talk about his team, and how they developed into a very close-knit family over the years of playing. He talked about the endless lines awaiting season tickets once every year, and how he was a fan ever since Jecht played.

He also talked about the game he was in before 'that blob thing' came and attacked the stadium, and he just barely caught a ledge, avoiding the initial blast and falling to the floor, where he hit the floor and rolled to stop the initial shock from breaking his legs. He continued to where he was confronted by Auron, and how he almost was attacked by a monster before a weapon fell from the sky, stopping it dead in its tracks, at which point Rikku looked at Bruce expectantly, who let out a sheepish "guilty", resulting in a small grin from Rikku before she turned back to Tidus, who was finishing up his story. "And after we blew up the truck, I ran across a breaking road, and then, all three of us were sucked up in this white light, and the next thing I know, I'm waking up in those ruins, where I saw Bruce, and then met you."

Rikku was all but amazed at his story. The way her eyes lit up with energy almost made Bruce laugh with the delight in her features as she listened. But even with the sense of excitement she had about her, Bruce noticed a hint of melancholy under it all. Like she wanted to believe his story, but couldn't, no matter how hard she wanted to. The whole scene left Bruce feeling sorry for the both of them, and he sighed heavily into the frigid air to show his recent change of moods.

Rikku glanced at Bruce uncertainly, then back at Tidus. Tidus noticed it and slowly put his hands in his pockets. "Did...I say something funny?" he asked Rikku.

Rikku was very quiet. "You were…near Sin. Both of you were," she said, gesturing over to Bruce but keeping her attention on Tidus. "Don't worry, you'll feel better in no time," she said with more confidence than before, with a hopeful look. "They say your head gets funny when Sin is near. Maybe…" she shrugged. "…Maybe you just had some kind of dream?"

Tidus looked over to Bruce, who gave him a blank stare in return. When no answer was given, Tidus felt his head. "You mean I'm sick?" he asked.

"Because of Sin's toxin, yeah."

"You sure?"

Rikku went over and felt Tidus's head, then lowered her hand to his, clasping it firmly. "Yeah, there is no Zanarkand anymore." Tidus eyes widened. "Sin destroyed it a thousand years ago. So…" Tidus jerked his hand from Rikku's, as if he touched a stove. His mouth opened up slightly. "…Nobody plays blitzball there."

Tidus stood there gaping for a long time, his mouth trying to made words but failing miserably. The surprise was very evident, with him looking back from Bruce to Rikku, both looking at him with worry and concern. "Wha…" He cleared his throat. "What do you mean, a thousand years ago? But I saw Sin attack Zanarkand!" He exclaimed, pacing and fidgeting with his hands. You're saying that happened, _a thousand years ago_?!" He yelled, startling both Rikku and Bruce at his outburst. "No way!"

Everything was going like in the game, until Tidus pointed at Bruce. "Ask Bruce, he was there!"

Suddenly, Bruce felt very nervous. 'Oh no.'

Rikku looked over to Bruce, leaving him in a stalemate. 'Crap, here's a tough one,' he thought, feeling the sweat gathering on his forehead. 'Become the sane backstabber, or a loyal lunatic?' He looked at both of them. They both looked eager to hear that he was behind them and not the other. Best to come to a compromise.

"Uh…" Bruce looked over to Rikku. "Well, he is correct, we did fight Sin, and we were in Zanarkand, one that didn't exist as just ruins," at which Tidus beamed, leaving Rikku looking hurt. He turned to Tidus. "But," he started. Tidus's face fell. "I'm sorry to tell you this, but…" Tidus began to look betrayed, but he had to tell him, for his sake. "…Rikku is right. Zanarkand was destroyed a thousand years ago."

Rikku narrowed her eyes. "Wait…how can that be possible? You couldn't have been there when it was destroyed, everyone died there!" Tidus joined in. "How can this be a thousand years in the future? And how can you know that?"

Shoot. between a rock and a hard place. He seemed to be doing that a lot. Think fast.

Bruce applied his poker face. "Well, I was definitely there when Tidus was fighting the things. I mean, I was there with him. But, uh, well, I don't think Rikku is lying to us, Tidus. I mean, she doesn't have a reason to, do you?" Rikku shook her head. "Well, then, I suppose that in a sense, you're both right."

Another long pause ensued, as everyone was thinking about the recent turn of events. Tidus was confused, reasonably, and Rikku was still debating on whether her newcomers were psychos or not. Bruce gazed upon the ocean, trying not to think about the awkward situation he put himself in. Not only did he have to explain it to Tidus and Rikku, but Auron as well.

Rikku broke the silence. "You said…you play blitzball?" she asked Tidus, who turned to face her. "Uh huh." "You know, you should go to Luca," she said, planting her hands on her hips. "Someone might know who you are, or you might find someone you recognize."

"Luca?" Tidus scratched his head questioningly.

Rikku clasped her hands together, smiling. "Okay, leave it to me! I'll get you to Luca, promise!" She started for the door, then turned back. "You'd rather stay here?" Tidus nodded. She turned her attention to Bruce, who also nodded. "Okay, I'll tell the others." She started to open the door again, and turned around. "Oh, and one thing. Don't tell anyone you're from Zanarkand, okay?" Tidus's eyebrows rose skeptically. "Yevon says it's a holy place. You might upset someone." After Tidus's muffled agreement, she creaked the door open and disappeared, leaving them alone again.

Tidus let out a sigh, and sank to the floor, landing with a thud. Bruce didn't blame him. He just had a bombshell dropped on him, after all. If it were him, he doubted he would even be able to talk, let alone keep it together like that. Too bad it only got worse for him. After taking another worried glance at Tidus, he resumed his gaze on the water.

Funny, there were no more seagulls crying overhead. For that matter, there seemed to be a dark cloud in the distance.

Bruce looked at the cloud. It was very dark, almost black. Lightning could be seen every few seconds, violently jagging across the darkened patch of sky. At first, it just seemed like a normal storm cloud.

But then, it moved. Very quickly. Directly towards the boat.

The wind around him picked up a little bit as it moved towards him, catching at his clothes and whipping them against his skin. The water also began to get choppy, hitting the boat and spilling onto the metal floor. The boat groaned as it grew accustomed to the new wave of motion, swaying more with each passing moment.

Tidus got up, and gasped loudly. "What….is that…?" His tone became angry. "Why can't it leave me alone for once?" He unsheathed his sword from behind his back, ready to fight.

"No, Tidus, you can't hurt this thing. It's pointless!" Bruce yelled above the wind, now steadily louder. Reluctantly, Tidus put his sword back, grumbling incoherently.

In a flurry of movement, the door slammed open, and several of the Al Bhed, including Rikku, launched themselves out into the open, all looking at the incoming cloud, speaking in Al Bhed. Then, one of them cried out in terror. "Sin!"

At once, people began to scatter, some rushing to cover the crates with tarp, others just standing on the deck, watching the descending cloud, now almost over them. The sky grew very dark. All of them looked terrified.

Bruce could only look on as everyone was running all over the place, the lightning flashing across the sky, lighting up the boat for only split seconds at a time, showing the horror-filled faces of the Al Bhed as they ran past him. For the second time, hell broke loose because of that thing. He still couldn't believe that he could kill such a thing that struck fear into the heart of anyone who heard its name.

As he gazed on, he noticed the glint of a familiar weapon laying in the half open doorway. He ran over to the door, getting hit by frantic Al Bhed that crossed his path, he reached the doorway. 'Finally, some good luck,' he thought triumphantly, grabbing the swallow firmly and placing it in the sheath behind him, the buckles clinking with the new weight.

Suddenly, a hand gripped his, and he spun around defensively. "Who is that?" He yelled into the chaos, his hand still being gripped tightly. The lightning crackled across the sky, resulting in a loud 'eep' in the darkness and his hand being gripped tighter. Bruce used his other hand to feel the arm of whoever it was. It was small. "Rikku? Rikku, is that you?" He shouted, just barely even hearing himself now.

He thought he heard a feminine sounding reply, too muffled to be heard in the swirling winds surrounding him. Lightning split the sky, and she could be seen for a moment, her eyes wet with unshed tears, her expressions showing nothing but unbridled terror. She was looking straight into Bruce's eyes desperately. And gripping his hand.

Bruce felt himself feeling sorry for Rikku as he moved his other hand to hers, closing it around hers protectively. Poor Rikku. She was terrified of lightning. And, with Sin just below, too…. He felt her hands trembling, even under his heavy gloves. He knew that she would survive, of course she would. But, still, she needed him right then. By reaching out to him, she confided in him all of her fears, and he had to deal with it the best he knew how.

So, he slowly moved his hand around to her back, pulling her towards him, and he embraced her in a cautious bear hug around her shoulders. He could feel her rapid heartbeat. She was shivering, from fright or from the cold, he couldn't tell.

Rikku moved her arms around to his waist, pulling him tighter against her. "I-I'm scared," he heard her whisper weakly.

Bruce lowered his mouth down to her ear. "Rikku, I know you're scared," he said soothingly. A bolt scorched the sky, and she jumped, emitting another high pitched scream. Bruce started to slowly rub her back, trying to calm her. "I know you're scared, Rikku. But I know you're stronger than to let this scare you." He felt her shaking fiercely with sobs. "Hey, you took on that fiend in the ruins without a second glance, and you fought hard." He felt her begin to lessen her grip on his waist. "And I saw how truly strong you can be. Use that same courage, Rikku. I know you can do it."

Even with all of the screaming and running around them, even with the winds whipping their hair around each other, even with the midnight clouds above them, shooting out white-hot bolts about, they didn't even see that now. Time seemed to slow down around them, and neither one wanted to leave the safety of the other. Rikku felt…nice. She was nestled in this spot, and she no longer was shivering. Bruce continued to hold her there, for as long as she needed it. It felt good, being wanted for protection. Even though he couldn't stop Sin from coming, he still enjoyed being looked at as a beacon of hope in the storm. Rikku stirred below him, and he looked down to see her…smiling. Even with the tears running down her cheeks, she still looked happy. Safe.

Time sped back up as she released his midsection. Reluctantly, Bruce released her from his hug. She pulled his head down and placed a quick peck on his cheek. "Thank you," she said into his ear. Bruce quickly felt his face get hot as he looked at Rikku, shocked. He then grinned shyly, trying to pass it off. "N-no problem," he responded, causing Rikku to blush as well. Neither one made a move to leave, so they just stood, both looking elsewhere.

Then, he heard Rikku shout. "Tidus!"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a massive wave of water crash across the deck. Tidus screamed as the wave hit him, sending him falling to the deck. The wave then receded, leaving just water where he fell.

Oh man, now he had to swim.

He looked over to Rikku again, who looked back at him with concern in her eyes. This might be the last time he saw her, if he died before they met again. But, she couldn't think like that. He smiled, tucking a stray strand of her hair back to her ear. "I'll see you again, Rikku, I promise," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Then, without any warning, he turned on his heel, running full speed towards the edge of the ship. He heard Rikku shouting, but it was too loud to understand. He jumped over the fallen body of an Al Bhed, and launched himself overboard, letting the whirlpool below him suck him into its path.

Author's Notes: Wohoo! Another chapter finished. I know what you are all thinking: Jeez, took you long enough. Well, because I had valentine's day planning to do (can't forget my girlfriend, she kinda gets pissed 8v)) and a long list of to do's, I could only do a little bit at a time. Hopefully, I bribed you with the extra long flavor this week, it's about 90 percent longer than my usual chapters. Nonetheless, I apologize to you, the reading public, and I give you my word that it will get better, since my schedule is freer than it used to be.

The Rikku-Bruce thing is going nicely, yes? I'm trying to go for the 'harmless flirtatious friendship becomes something deeper when it takes root' thing. I hope I'm not pushing their relationship too far yet, for now, it's all in fun. I love writing about these guys. It sucks, though, all the things I wanna do have to wait until way, WAY later! Waaaahhh.

But, trust me, I've got a brain full of ideas for these two, and I plan on using them. But, for now, Rikku's gone, so no romance for a while, just adventures!

As always, feedback is not only appreciated, it is NEEDED. Thanks to all of you who have sent me compliments. I really need those for fuel when it gets tough to keep going. If you like the fic, tell a friend, I like publicity!

Oh, something I forgot! The Al Bhed parts, I need to know how to do those, whether to just put the translations after it, or just the translations, or none at all, so please email me your thoughts.

Any of you have issues or questions for me on the story, or anything you want, really, just email me. I like mail (I got mail, yaaaaaay!)

Thanks again!


	8. Caveat

Final Fantasy X: Revisited

Disclaimer: These guys aren't mine. I wish, really. But I can still use them, hehe.

Chapter 8: Caveat

* * *

Bruce's eyes flew open with a start, his chest expanding heavily. His hair was seeming to have drowned in buckets of sweat and was sticking sickly to his head. His head was _pounding_. 'Where...am I?' Placing an unsteady hand there, he received his first shock. 

He was in his pajamas. He was laying down in his bed. Actually, he was in his room, back in his world.

"What!" He half-shouted to himself, swinging his legs to a sitting position on the edge of his bed. What was going on? He was just on the boat, with Rikku. Right? His vision slowly grew adjusted to the dark light, and he could see more clearly. 'I was there…I was there!' Wasn't he? All of the things that happened, they _had_ to be real. It was too vivid, too…concrete. Maybe….

His eyes became dark.

Maybe it was all made up. Just a dream. All in his head. Maybe he was going crazy.

Groaning, he tilted his head back, allowing his heartbeat to slow down. _Clear your head, Bruce. Relax, feel your movements_. He began to calm down. How could all of that been fake? He was there, he felt the weight of the weapon in his hands as he fought the sinspawn. _Feel the weight of the clothing, lighter now_. There was no way it all could have been a dream. He felt the scrapes of running from Sin's attacks, and there is no pain in a dream. Right? _Feel the carpet under you. Focus your mind_. And he was sore. Actually, very sore. There was no way it was just him going crazy. 'Mom always said it would happen,' Bruce thought with a light chuckle. But, then, why was he in his room again? It doesn't make any sense. Shaking his head slightly, he started. "This can't be—"

"Be real?"

The childlike voice behind him made him jump near out of his skin, as Bruce let out a choked cry and catapulted himself across the small room. "Holy crap!" he shouted as his heart leapt up to his throat and began to pound hard again in his chest. He spun around to see who yelled at him, but as soon as he began to turn his head he was met with bright light emanating from the source of the voice. Using his hand as a shield, he waited until his eyes adjusted before he saw where the voice came from. When he saw, part of him visibly sagged.

There, sitting on his bed, was a young boy in a purple robe, swinging his tanned feet casually over the side. He had a grin on his face.

"Jesus, kid," Bruce said, his nerves clearly getting wrecked with the surprises. "You could have just as easily knocked, you know," he said sarcastically, placing one hand on his waist. The boy merely kept swinging his legs, not answering him. "So, I'm right? This isn't my real bedroom?"

The boy's legs stopped swinging, and with a small push he landed on his feet in front of Bruce. "That's correct," he said. "This is not your bedroom."

Bruce looked at the Fayth confused, expecting him to go on. But, the child merely stood there, staring back at him from under the heavy hood of the robe. Bruce continued. "So, if I'm not in my room, then why am I…in my room? Moreso, if this isn't my room, then where is it?" He asked, stressing the last part. This wasn't making any sense anymore.

The child gestured with his hand. "This is a place where I would be able to talk to you the most freely." He walked slowly around, taking in all of Bruce's room seemingly with awe while he continued talking. "This area is in your mind, a place you have created with your own personal feeling. A safepoint, a place where you are the most comfortable, where you are at the most peace."

"Okay…" Bruce looked around him. It was his room, alright, down to the small DVD collection in the corner and the array of posters adorning his walls. "So, this is in my mind, right?" he asked, emitting a nod from the Fayth. "So, why am I here, and not half-drowning in some ocean? I did jump in after Sin, right?"

"You are here because there are things that I need to tell you before you continue with your…story," the faith says, with a hint of sadness in his voice. "You must remember, Bruce, that this is not your story, and you must follow the journey set before you."

Bruce remembered. It was why he knew so much about what was happening; he'd seen it before. "Yes, I remember that, but what does that have—"

"It seems that your presence here has already affected the balance between your reality and this one."

Bruce gave a big sigh, and sat down cross-legged on the soft carpet underneath him. "Okay, why don't you fill me in a bit more on what you're talking about."

The Fayth turned his back to Bruce, his voice now carrying an extraordinarily large amount of weight. "By coming onto this plane of reality, it seems that it is impossible for the path to unravel exactly how things were planned. Your thread, interwoven with the other heroes, has changed your meaningfulness—" he turned back to Bruce with his fists clenching beside him, "—no, your necessity to the journey. There is no turning back from what you must do."

Bruce was utterly confused. "Okay, so what has changed? Is there some sort of extra boss or something?"

"Bruce, you are now responsible for protecting your party, at all costs. The story must be completed."

Before Bruce could respond, the Fayth threw up his hands, palms outstretched. As his sleeves rolled back to his upper arms, a large orb hovered above him. Slowly gaining speed, the orb moved and spun until it flattened out into an oval shape. Bruce's eyes widened as he looked at the growing disc, not being able to look away. Actually, he _couldn't_. 'Not again…' he thought, as he felt his body lock in place, and he could do nothing but stare at it. It looked like what appeared to be a mirror. At least, the shape and size looked to be some sort of mirror. Only, the border was white light, and the middle was…

Bruce couldn't believe it. He was looking at himself. Only, this was…

He remembered now. The picture he was looking at in the mirror was Zanarkand, shortly after the stadium got attacked. He was in his full gear, and he was looking down at Tidus and Auron, in the middle of a conversation. He watched himself grab onto a loose cable hanging over the ledge he was on, and giving a quick 'hail Mary' began to repel down.

He remembered seeing the sinspawn approaching Tidus from behind. He remembered taking out his swallow from behind him, and aiming carefully at the fiend. He saw himself hurling, albeit clumsily, the swallow from his hand and hearing the sickening crunch as it lodged into the faith, pyreflies emerging from the huge cut.

Then, the picture in the disc shifted. The colors began to blend and change until there was only a blur of motion. As soon as it began the picture settled, and he saw another past version of him. This time, he was in the ruins, fighting the sinspawn. Tidus was there, and so was Rikku.

Rikku made a move, quickly going in front of the monster and making one slash after another. Bruce remembered this well. He had been very tired after that, and that was right before he got butted in the head. Pushing that memory out of his head, he kept focus on the picture in front of him.

The fiend began to thrash wildly. Striking out at all angles, and Bruce saw for the first time Rikku get struck with one of the fiend's sharp appendages. He felt himself grimace as it made it's way straight into her chest, and she collapsed, a wave of pyreflies dancing all around her as she sank slowly onto the ground. He then saw himself run to her side, mutter something, and place a blue vial into her mouth.

The Fayth, who was quiet before, spoke with a booming voice that seemed to strike into Bruce's mind. "Because of your actions,the two heroes are still alive. The story is changing, altering itself around you. You saved their lives because the story needed you to. It is very important now that you do not take this for granted."

Bruce gaped. His mouth could move now, but every time he tried to say something, he shut it again. 'I…saved their lives?' "But that wasn't in the…you're saying that I changed the story?" Bruce could hardly believe it. He saved their lives. If he hadn't killed the fiend, if he hadn't given Rikku the potion….He shuddered. Saving lives wasn't a part of this. He was just the extra guy, the guy that wasn't needed. This was…insane. "I'm not a hero, though."

"You must be, now."

"So, how will the story end?"

"That will be up to you now."

Great. Just great. So, now most of what he knew from the game would have to be thrown right out the window.

As if he read his mind, the Fayth spoke, now facing him with his hands still supporting outstretched. "The path will be different, but the result will still be the same. You must still defeat the enemy, and you must still be alive for you to return to your own world."

_Your own world_. Did he really want to do that? Bruce stared at the disc. It seemed to be getting larger and larger.

"Now, it is time for you to return. Be diligent, and live." The Fayth said these words loudly now, as the orb above him began to glow with a radiant light. Bruce could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand on end as wind from an unknown source began to stir around the room.

"What's going on?" Bruce shouted at the child, as he picked himself off the ground. The ground underneath him started to shake as he stood, unsteadily spreading his feet. "Where the hell am I going?"

The orb became much larger, much brighter, as it began to move towards Bruce, the bright borders becoming giving off an eerie gold light. If Bruce was scared before, he was jumping out of his skin now. He felt his feet become lighter, lighter, until he found himself floating above ground a few inches. A strangled shout was all he could muster before the orb expanded above him, stretched down around him and sealing him inside.

His hands began to tingle. Actually, all of him began to tingle. He looked down at his body, and saw that, indeed, a small blue ray of light as wrapping itself around him, slowly moving in a spiral. 'What is…' he thought to himself, as the winds picked up, a sharp howl in his ears. So _loud._ He felt the sliver of light come to rest on his ankles, burning a little, but not enough to hurt him.

Suddenly, it sprang to life, exploding in a brilliant outburst of energy. His feet jerked involuntarily as he felt something weighing down on them. Bruce's eyes grew wider as he saw both of his feet engulfed in the energy burst, seeming to form itself to them. When the light faded, he noticed that he was wearing his black boots, from when he jumped into the whirlpool. The light traveled upward to his waist, and shot out more energy, which made Bruce's entire body spasm with shock. His red shorts were there now, instead of his Spongebob boxers.

"It didn't have to be so painful, you know!" Bruce shouted at his entrapment, sure that the Fayth heard him from outside the sphere of light. Onward it went, to his torso, where he felt the weight of the black shirt and red vest cover him. He was sure he felt his swallow holstered on his back, too. But, he was too awed to notice. The light moved to his head, where it softly placed the red bandana around his black tresses, holding them in place from the steadily increasing winds.

Bruce knew this procedure. He would be sucked into the sphere, probably back to Besaid Island, where he would meet up with Tidus and Wakka. Everything was going according to—

His entire body suddenly was submerged in water, filling the entire sphere, and some filling his lungs with the surprise. It was as if he was just dropped in, the force of it winding him unexpectedly. All sound was cut short as his ears filled with water instantly, the wind's cry muted.

Bruce immediately began to flail his arms and legs around him, trying to find some bearings. His eyes burned with the sudden onslaught of water in them, and he used an arm to brush them, trying in vain to stop the burn. He painfully opened an eye, and saw that he was, in fact, underwater. The sphere, his bedroom, and the child were gone. All he could see was the water in around him, and a soft light above him.

'Oh, so no easy going, huh?' he thought to himself as he began to swim to the surface in the sky blue water. At least, he thought it was the surface he was going towards. He struggled to keep his cool as he swam towards the light. Part of him wanted to panic, he was winded and he had little energy. The other half was the one swimming now. The one that acted only on instinct. The one that only swam. His whole body hurt. _Gotta keep moving._

Pushing that out of his mind, he got closer to the light. His eyes grew heavy with fatigue, his entire body seemed to be crying out with every movement he made. 'I better get a break soon, this is crazy,' he thought to himself as consciousness began to fade slightly. The light was so close. Just a few more seconds and…

He broke from the surface with a loud splash and a gasp for air. His lungs felt like they were on fire as he gulped in the precious air. "That…kid…is in serious trouble," he gasped out as he felt his lungs returning to normal. Overall, he wasn't a good swimmer. He alwaysused up too much energy, and he was feeling the pull of fatigue overcoming his senses. _No, just a little longer._ His vision blurred, but he thought he saw some land about 50 feet away.

He began to swim, but his body retorted as soon as he began to move. "Man, am I out of shape," he uttered, grimacing. The tide appeared to be going in, anyways. Maybe he could just ride it out for a while...

He didn't know how long he spent wading in the water before he felt his feet hitting the sandy floor. With a twinge of pain and a small curse, he waded towards the beach, his entire body weighed down with the wet clothing and the weapon on his back. 'It was lighter the first time,' he thought to himself as he drudged to the beach. His body was working on only adrenaline now, and was quickly dissipating. With a groan, he took a shaky step forward.

His body couldn't take any more, however, so his step only led him face first in the sandy ground. He didn't even have enough strength to grunt as the adrenaline he was working on left him completely. He felt sleep overtake him, almost at once.

* * *

The next thing he remebered, he heard voices around him. What were they saying…? He couldn't piece it together, they were muffled and quiet. He thought he heard multiple sharp thwacks of wood being struck together. His eyes fluttered open. 

He was no longer at the beach, it seemed. He was in a tent, secure in a bed. He slowly shook his head, trying to get rid of some of the dizziness. With his vision slowly focusing, he had a closer look around. The tent was light, with the sun entering in from the red flap in front of him and piercing the fabric all around him. He was lying down in a makeshift cot, and his belongings were perched on a shelf above his head. Around him were nine other cots, all with the same shelves above them. His was the only one occupied, it seemed. Outside, he heard a lot of commotion; there were shouts he heard, and it seemed that there were a lot of people. Where was he?

He sat up, and noticed that his strength had returned. "I feel great!" He exclaimed, stretching his arms out above his head. Whoever found him had to be thanked for his treatment, whatever it was. He also noticed that he was no longer wearing his clothes. Instead, he was wearing a faded white shirt and some light cotton pants. "Ugh…except for this outfit," he muttered sullenly. "Where are my clothes?"

A shift at the tent opening averted his eyes. Standing there was a young girl in a simple white dress. Bruce didn't recognize her, but she seemed to be the one who took care of patients here. She had more than a few vials cradled in her hands, and it looked like she was having trouble with them. "Ooh…" she whispered quietly. The vials were beginning to fall through her hold.

Bruce moved quickly, he saw she needed some help. "Woah, now," he said with a laugh, and moved to the girl, taking some of the loose vials threatening to fall between her fingers. "That's quite a stash you have there. Throwing a party?" He asked, jokingly. He didn't know where he was, might as well make a first impression.

The girl blushed and looked at the floor, a small smile on her face. She was a cutie, albeit not the kind that stands out immediately. Her hair was worn partly up in a bun on her head. The rest cascaded in golden waves down to the small of her back. She definitely looked the nurse's type; she had very light, kind brown eyes that seemed to shimmer with intelligence. Overall, she seemed the quiet type, and the way she looked shyly at the ground helped accentuate that. "A party? No, these are for patients," she replied with a soft, timid voice. "How…how are you feeling?" she asked, looking up at Bruce worriedly.

Bruce set the vials on the nearby table in a small pile. "Oh, I'm right as rain! A hundred percent, thanks," he said, wiping his hands together self-consciously. "Are…are you the one who rescued me from the beach?"

The girl looked at him surprised, then she let out a tiny giggle. "No, I only tended to you here in the tent. I did receive the honor of changing your clothes though." Her eyes remained soft, but he thought a spark of mischeif hit them momentarily.

Bruce gawked openly. 'Wow, so I guess she wasn't as shy as I thought.' "Oh?" he had a hard time keeping himself from getting embarrassed. He already felt his face getting warmer. Did she really see...him? Oh man…. "So, erh, where exactly am I?" he asked, desperately trying to change the subject.

Before she had a chance to answer, a gruff voice answered from outside. "You're about a day's walk from the Mi'hen Highroad," it said. Bruce looked past the girl to see a man standing in the doorway. He looked gruff in appearance, and his well-built body didn't hurt the fact either. He was built like a tank, with massive biceps and a chest to match. He was wearing what looked to be a soldier's uniform. A white breastplate with bright golden stripes on the top and the bottom adorned his chest, with three large medals on the right side and multiple smaller badges on the left. It went down to where his ribcage ended, where it gave way to a tight-fitting gray elastic bodysuit, coming down to around his legs. From there, white leather pants fit snug to his thighs and down to the mid-calf. Glistening white boots continued downwards from there, seeming to have been smudged a bit from use.

The man smiled at him with steel blue eyes and a hard stubbled chin. "The name's Turk, 1st class officer knight," he belted proudly, extending a hand to Bruce. "A scout found your body washed up on shore. We brought your body here," he grabbed Bruce's now extended hand and shook it firmly, "to our encampment."

"My name's Bruce," he said, somewhat intimidated from Turk's aggressive behavior. Either that, or the sheer size of the man, but either way he was nervous."Thanks for keeping me alive…sir," he added as an afterthought. Turk seemed to be pleased at it and abruptly hit Bruce jokingly on his back.

"Ha, it's no problem at all. We get all kinds of people here, and we were hoping that you'll want to join our ranks too," he said, half-pushing Bruce towards the tent opening. "This...is the Crusaders' command center," he said, pointing to the outside commotion. Bruce's breath caught.

It was a huge training center. Everywhere he looked he saw rows and rows of people, all in different sections. The section in front of him, and perhaps the biggest section, had twenty long rows of young men, and even some women, all with sticks in their hands. They looked like they were doing sword drills, by the way they all moved in near-perfect unison.Occasionally one person would slip up a motion, in which case an officer cracked a wooden staff sharply against their backs, emitting a wince from both them and Bruce. To the right of them he saw a smaller group of people, all in a circle. Most of them were women, but a few men were with them, all sitting in a circle. They looked to be looking at a woman in the center, talking softly to them. There was little noise coming from that area, more like they were meditating. Right of them was a circular ring; it didn't seem to be used at the moment, but it looked like a close combat training area. To the left of the drillers, a wide variety of wooden crates were strewn all around. He could see a boy blindfolded, hopping from crate to crate. That area seemed to be training for dexterity or memory. He guessed.

There was much more there, but before he looked any further, Turk's rough voice jerked him out of his surveying. "So...I noticed that you had a weapon with you when you were taken in. A pretty unique-looking one, too," he said, looking at Bruce pointedly. "You know, if you know how to use it, you would be a great help to us. We have a plan, you know, to finally put an end to Sin once and for all. We're not even requiring you to be a Yevonite at this point, we just need skilled soldiers. We'll probably all get the boot for this anyways, but if it works..."

Bruce began to assess things as Turk continued to speak to him. 'I guess I'm not with Tidus. I'm not even close.' He was at Mi'hen, right smack in the middle of Spira. Not only that, but he was separated from Tidus, and the storyline he was used to. This must be part of what the Fayth was talking about. Nodding his head, Bruce looked back at the girl, who was still looking at the ground. "Are you part of this operation too?" he asked her.

The girl, startled, nodded her head, smiling at him. "Yes, I'm training to be a white mage, so I can help people on the battlefield when Sin arrives. I…" her eyes glanced wistfully at the vials next to her. "I have a long way to go before I can become a First Class Mage. But, I'm learning."

Bruce smiled at her, then looked back to Turk. "So, you want me to join the Crusaders?" he asked Turk, who in turn crossed his arms in front of him, grunting an affirmed 'yes'. 'Well, I really have nowhere else to go, and I do need to get trained.' Who was he kidding, he had no idea how to use that swallow. Some training would do him good. Besides, he would always meet up with Tidus and the guardians at the battlefront. His eyes lit up at Turk, and he extended his hand to him. "Sure. Whatever will help stop Sin, I'll try to be a Crusader." Who knew he'd ever say those words?

Turk's chiseled expression brightened, and he let out a curt grunt of approval as he grabbed Bruce's hand, shaking it with enthusiasm. "Good to hear. You are now an unofficial member of the Crusaders." He put a gloved hand to his head, saluting in military fashion. "I will give you the day to relax, but come tomorrow you will be tested for your class, and initiated into the full-fledged training of the Crusaders. Get some rest," he said, smiling over his shoulder as he left the tent. "You'll need it."

* * *

A/N: Okay, here it is, finally! Crazy writer's block, but I cranked it out. Call it a Christmas gift to you guys. Hope I still have an audience out there…anyways, read and reply, I'll try to get another chapter out sooner then the last one…oh, and don't worry. I'm not going to change the story _that_ much. Not an AU here, I'll stick close, I promise. Thanks for reading! 


	9. Investiture

Final Fantasy: Revisited 

Disclaimer: If you haven't figured it out by now…

Chapter 9: Investiture

* * *

A piercing horn resounding in the near distance told Bruce it was time to get up, jarring him from a sound sleep. Bruce's eyelids refused to cooperate at first, remaining tightly shut . 'You have _got_ to be kidding me…' he thought to himself, his mouth turning into a slight frown as he struggled with the fatigue. It seemed he closed his eyes just a moment before, and already he had to get up for his first day. 'Just a few more minutes...' 

He had been moved to a private barracks the night before, because they needed to prepare for actual hurt and sick people, the girl had told him. It was considerably smaller than the hospice, but the bed was nicer. At least, there was a small mattress made from chocobo feathers. She had told him that, too. And boy, did he feel them, soft on his stomach and shins, meshing softly against his prone form. That mattress was part of the reason he didn't want to get up. It was so comfortable…

His mind pushed that away quickly. 'If I think about that, I'd be here all day,' he thought, smiling sadly. He had to get up. Better he get up by himself than Turk did. Bruce's shoulder stung for a half an hour after Turk slapped him on the shoulder. And he was _nice_ then. "O-kay," Bruce muttered to himself, "time to get up."

He never was a morning person. Slowly he pushed himself off of the mattress, and threw the heavy sheets off his back. Instantly he regretted it as the morning's cold breeze rushed into his body, chilling him to the bone in a split second. "Wow, _now_ I'm up," Bruce yelled in surprise, his eyes opening fully in reaction. He stood over his bed and gave a large morning yawn to start the day. "What a night," he said appreciatively, rubbing the cold out of his eyes hastily. He began to make the bed. 'Better make sure I make a good impression,' he thought, tucking in the sheets and straightening the pillow.

"Okay, bed's made. So, what now?" Bruce asked himself in the darkness, beginning to stretch out his muscles. He started training today…whatever that meant. He chuckled to himself as he imagined himself being buried up to his neck in mud and being sprayed with water. Nothing could be that bad. Stretching his arms over his head, he sighed with relief as he heard the unsteady creaks of his body starting up.

This was going to be a good day, he decided.

The sun was far from rising, but he could see a bit of light peeking in from under the tent walls. He turned to leave and stopped, smiling. Sitting on the welcome rug was a basin of water. 'Oh, that was nice,' he thought to himself. Walking over to the rug, he kneeled over the basin and began scrubbing his face with the washcloth beside it. "I'm walkin' on sunshine, oh oh, and don't it feel good!" He sang cheerfully, a light fresh scent filling his nostrils as he wet the washcloth in the basin. He didn't know if they had full baths, but at the moment, this was heaven. He continued to hum as he rinsed his face and dried the cloth.

The moment he set the washcloth down the tent flap opened, letting in some of the dark blue light the sky was giving. Standing there was Turk, with a handful of clothes tucked under his arm. "Rise and shine, cadet!" He yelled gruffly, patting Bruce on the head. Bruce looked up, and smiled at him. "I brought you your clothes for today, but don't get used to 'em. These are for newbies." He already looked wide awake. What was his secret, Bruce wondered.

"Oh, thanks…sir," Bruce replied, taking them from his arm and setting it on the bed. "Say, what exactly am I going to do today? I know you said something about a class, but I'm still a little confused," he admitted with a smile as he began to get dressed, hurriedly taking the old shirt off.

"Well, since it's your first day here, you'll be quite busy. I hope you got enough sleep like I told ya," he barked, laughing. "First thing is breakfast. We don't have the best food, but I have tasted worse. They have shifts for breakfast duty, and today's the fourth day in the shift. So, you'll be treated with the white mages' cooking. You lucked out, they have the best food," he continued with a glint in his eyes. "After that, you'll take a quick tour around the camp, and meeting some of the officers and the knights. Unfortunately, I won't be giving you the tour, seeing as I have to train the cadets," he said, apologetically slicking a hand through his burgundy hair. "Then, you'll be escorted to the Hall, where you'll have your placement tests. That's where we'll test to see what kind of training you'll receive while you are here. My guess is you'll be some kind of fighter, based on that weapon you got," he smirked, thumbing his nose. "And after that, you will have dinner with the other cadets, don't be afraid to ask them questions, you hear? Then, a trip to the showers, then off to bed. How does it feel?" He asked Bruce, who had just finished lacing up his new footwear.

"It feels…" Bruce trailed off, flexing his arms. He wasn't about to complain; it was a cream-colored outfit, which didn't upset Bruce too much. He had a tight-fitting white shirt on, regrettably showing off his slightly protruding belly. Luckily there was a loose-fitting white jacket over that, with a series of buttons off center to the left, and a solid white line marking the path from collar to shirttail. His pants were seemingly made of the same material as the jacket was, silk but seemingly tougher. They were bunched slightly at the bottom by white boots, and drawn together at the top by a golden rope, tied in place at Bruce's waist. "I guess it feels pretty good," he announced, working the fabric in a little.

Turk smiled. "Great! Don't get used to 'em, you'll probably get your assignment before the day's end. Well, I gotta run. Wait here until your, erh…tour guide arrives." He stood straight, and saluted. "Work hard out there, cadet." Turning sharply on his heel, he was gone in a quick flurry of motion, with only the soft swish of the tent flap to confirm that he was there at all. Smiling thoughtfully, Bruce sat back down on his bed, running his fingers through his hair.

Ugh. His hair felt horrible. After a few more tries and mild curses, Bruce began to comb his hair with his fingers. 'Aah, I need a bath, badly,' he thought to himself in dismay as he felt his hair beginning to relax as he idly raked his hand through. He began to hear movement from outside as the sky began to give way to the sun. A soft blue hue lit up his room, and he could see shadows of briskly walking feet from the corners of his tent. Occasionally he would hear a group of guys talking as they made their way to their duties, in hushed voices. Sometimes he heard a laugh or two, but the tent cloth was too thick to make anything out.

He didn't know how much longer he spent sitting on the bed before the tent flap opened again, letting in the morning light and assaulting Bruce's eyes. A young man stood there now, smirking at Bruce. "So you're Bruce, eh?" he asked, walking in without any more of a welcome. He was about the same age as Bruce was, he guessed. Maybe a year or two older. He had untamed, spiky red hair, with some dark goggles resting it in place above his face. It looked outrageous, and Bruce smiled in spite of himself when he saw it. He had the same outfit Bruce had on, only his was dark blue, with a gold stripe running alongside the buttons instead of Bruce's white one. There was also a black rope tied around his waist. "I guess I was expecting someone a little taller. The name's Jayden. I'm your tour guide," he said excitedly, grabbing Bruce's arm and giving him a strong pat on his shoulder.

Bruce was a little take aback at this guy's friendliness, nervously making fists at his side. He wasn't the kind of guy to give more than a shallow wave at strangers, but here this guy was, acting like they were best buds. Oh well, guess he'd have to just get used to it. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Jayden," he replied, subconsciously brushing himself off. "Are you a Crusader here?" he asked, crossing his arms in front of him.

Jayden beamed. "Yup, I'm training for a position as a Fighter First Class. You can tell by my clothes. Mine are blue, see? So, that means I'm a fighter class. The belt," he gestured to the black rope, "means I'm a special weapons class. You'll get this too, probably." He let out a quick laugh. "Guessing on that thing you came in with, I wouldn't doubt it, anyways, considering you know how to use it."

Bruce's features froze. "You…saw me coming in?" Oh, boy. Perfect, he hated attention. He felt his knees shake nervously, but he managed to control them.

Jayden grinned; he looked like a wolf, the way he was grinning. "Yeah, pretty much everybody's talking about you. We haven't had many newcomers join the Crusaders, especially since after the recruits ended last month. Everyone's wondering about that weapon you had, too. But, I guess you'll get to answer them after the day is over, I bet a lot of people will want to talk to you. Including the officers, after they…."

With every word he was saying, Bruce could feel more and more beads of nervous sweat beginning to form all over his body. Talking? 'Oh, maaaan…' he thought to himself. Clearly, he was not doing a good job at keeping a low profile. He sighed inwardly. Everytime there was pressure, he got shy. 'Why does this have to happen to me?' Bruce asked himself, afraid to move. As soon as he did he was sure that his knees would start to wobble, and he'd look like a drunk guy trying topass a sobriety test. It wasn't until a loud noise in front of him snapped him out of his melancholy mood.

He saw a hand waving in front of him. "Hello in there? You still with me?" Jayden asked him, small lines of worry crossing his face. "You feeling okay? Maybe you should go back to the infirmary—"

Bruce shrugged. "No, I'm fine. I'm just…so excited, that's all," he replied, trying to look as calm as possible. As an added thought, he lowered his hands to his sides. 'Okay, Bruce, focus. No time to be shy now,' he chastised himself, grinning at Jayden. Maybe he'd buy it.

"Okay, then, Bruce, let's get moving, before all the breakfast is gone!" Jayden said, flinging open the tent flap. It was beginning to show signs of life, as Bruce left the tent and breathed the fresh air. The sky was giving way to the sun, and an explosion of oranges and purples filled the sky as the sun began its climb upwards. It was…beautiful. Bruce stared at it silently, his eyes taking in the unreal form of nature with a soft peaceful expression. In retrospect, he never really paid much attention to such things as sunrises or nature. He was a techie, and didn't have much tolerance with the forces of nature. But here…

"Hey, we gotta go! Days like this, breakfast disappears man, let's get a move on!" Jayden yelled at Bruce, already halfway up a hill overlooking several buildings in the distance. Bruce blinked surprisingly at the voice, and then started up the hill after him. After ten minutes of walking the terrain the hill gave way to a path, which led them to some buildings surrounding a wide clearing of grass in the middle. Each building was near exact to the other, save for a plaque above each that gave them their identity with a symbol. On the opposite side of the clearing stood an enormous building, looking almost like a church the way the walls towered over the rest, with three heavy iron doors at the front.

As Bruce began to walk into the clearing, he could hear Jayden's boots beside him stop. He turned around to see him stretching his arms out, yawning loudly "Aaah…" Jayden opened one eye to see Bruce looking, and he smiled apologetically. "Sorry, just getting the kinks out. This is the barracks, where everyone rests and studies," he said cheerfully. "You'll be sleeping in one of these at the end of the day, once you get your class." He pointed to one at the end of the row of buildings on the left. "That's mine—the far one. I do my studies there, too. There's a room for us to practice techniques in, and a room for us to study in. Studying sucks," he let out a groan, placing his hand on his head. "But, it's gotta be done. In the middle is the Hall." He pointed to the structure on the far side. "That's where we meet for assemblies and such. It's not used very often, but whenever you hear the horn twice, you better not be the last person in there. They give you garbage duty," he began to fake gag in front of Bruce, emitting a laugh from him.

"Cool," Bruce said, with a hushed voice. "This is gonna be great!" He yelled suddenly, breaking the calm morning with his voice. "So, where's the cafeteria?" He asked Jayden hesitantly. He was pretty hungry.

Jayden pointed a finger behind Bruce. "The building we passed on the way in here. We better get in line quick. I think everyone's been fed aleady…" he began to run towards the door, followed by Bruce. They went up the side steps and opened the door with a soft creak.

A wave of sound hit Bruce so hard, he took a step back reflexively. The aroma of something cooking also attacked his nostrils, and made his stomach give a slight groan. It looked like Jayden was right; everyone was already seated in the large cafeteria, talking up a storm. A wide array of shirts were there, looking like a huge multicolored field of people chattering away. Bruce had to stifle a laugh when he saw one table near the back, seemingly quieter than everyone else. They all were wearing the same black outfit. 'Wonder what their problem is,' he thought to himself, shutting the door quietly behind him and following Jayden around to the line, where the food's smell was enticing him to go.

Bruce grabbed a large plate from the shelf, following suit with Jayden, and moved to the serving area. It seems that they were too late to be served personally, as the textured glass that separated the kitchen from the cafeteria was drawn up and locked. There was a vast array of food in front of him as he went down the line. Vegetables, some resembling carrots and broccoli, down to exotic fruits that Bruce had never seen before. At the end, he thought he saw the yellow look of eggs, sitting in a pan.

A blurry face suddenly appeared behind the glass shield, and after a moment a woman emerged from the side door to meet them. "Hello, and how are you today?" She asked him, smiling warmly. She was dressed in a white dress, the same shimmering fabric Bruce was wearing, with a slimmer white belt loosely tied around her waist. Her shoulders had three golden slashes along the fabric. "Can I get you anything in particular...?" Her eyes met Bruce's, and she let out a gasp in surprise. "Oh, you must be that boy that was washed up on the shore! Welcome, welcome." She gestured behind her softly with her hand, and without warning the faded glass barrier to the kitchen slid down and Bruce was suddenly met with twenty pairs of eyes staring at him.

He felt his face get hot. "H…hello," he said shyly, casting his eyes downward. Most of those eyes were girls' eyes, and they were looking at him intently, as if trying to look through him. "I'm, erh, Bruce. Nice to meet you all." They all were wearing the same outfit, white dresses for the girls, white outfits for the guys. He started shuffling his feet under their gaze. 'Mommy…' he thought, trying hard not to look nervous as he slowly inched his plate down the line. His knuckles grew white as he tried to act as calm as possible as he used the spoon to put eggs on his plate, and reached for some fruit and placed them around the eggs, now making steam on his plate.

The woman seemed to notice his nervousness, and placed a warm hand on his shoulder. "Don't be nervous. We are merely curious as to who you are. These are a portion of the mages-in-training. The rest are either already seated or in their rooms, resting." Her smile brought Bruce's eyes up, and slowly he began to smile back. "We are all glad to meet you, and we hope that you prove to be a value to the Crusaders." Giving him another pat on the shoulder, the woman turned back to the mages, giving them a silent nod to go back to their work. They dispersed quietly, but Bruce could still hear their hushed whispers as they turned and resumed work in the kitchen.

Wait…he could hear their whispers? Oh, no. He gulped audibly.

He turned around slowly to see that the entire room had turned silent. He seemed to be the center of everyone's gaze in the room. Rows and rows of eyes stared at him with shameless abandon, and the only sound he could hear above his massive heartbeat was random pieces of silverware clinking softly. 'Why, why, why?' he thought to himself, unable to move from the scrutiny of the room's glare on him. Should he say something? Should he just move quietly down the line? Truth be told, he had no idea. Luckily, Jayden stepped in.

Handing Bruce a glass of orange juice, he whispered, "Hey, let's eat on the green." Bruce blinked, looking at the room nervously. 'Smooth,' he thought angrily. Keeping his eyes locked on Jayden's feet, they left the silent room and out onto the green, swinging the door shut with a click.

As soon as the door shut, Bruce's aggravation made itself known. "I _hate_ being the center of attention!" He shouted, his voice slapping off the far building and returning to his ears sharply. "I really didn't handle that too well, did I?" he asked, looking disdainfully into his glass of juice.

"I think," Jayden replied calmly, wolfing down his food with abandon, "that you did just fine. You sure took the heat better than the last recruit. She was pretty, but very shy. Actually, when she came in for her first breakfast, she took one look around, and ran crying out of the room!" He guffawed, slapping the ground with his left hand. It was very sad, but I couldn't help laughing, you know? She was just so cute, it was hilarious!" Grabbing the plate, he continued shoving piles of food down his throat.

"I…see," Bruce said, settling across from Jayden on the soft grass. Well, at least he didn't cry. That made him feel a little better. But, still…he kicked himself inwardly at the awkwardness of that situation. "So, what happened to her? Did she end up going home?"

Jayden looked sideways at Bruce. "No, she just got over it, I guess. You would hardly know she was the same girl, looking at her now. Still quiet, but able to hold her own in a battle of wits. Lots of confidence. And, I hear she's single, hehe…" He wagged his eyebrows playfully.

The rest of the meal was eaten in silence. Bruce calmly ate the foreign fruit with curiosity, chewing each piece slowly before swallowing it. Overall, it was fairly good. Nothing he couldn't eat, anyways. Jayden ate across from him, seemingly the opposite, smacking and making subtle groans of contentment as he downed his entire plate. The sun was now a huge orange sphere, filling the entire sky with orange light. Only a short while before it was up fully.

The creak of the cafeteria doors awoke both up from their silence moments later. Looks like breakfast was over. He saw people eagerly chatting among each other as the chaotic crowd began to emerge, some going back to their rooms while others went on the path that Bruce used to get there. Bruce glanced at the people leaving the room; some of them stopped to stare at Bruce, but moments later gave either a quiet nod or a chortle or a simple shrug as they passed by. Somehow, they didn't seem as intimidating one at a time. He even was able to pull a smile from some of the more friendly ones, mostly the white mages he met at the lunch line.

As the group of people died down to a few, Jayden jumped up from the grass unexpectedly, dusting off the loose blades of grass off his pant legs. "Almost time to start. Lucky for me, I got training off today, I'm showing you around." He reached his hand out, and pulled Bruce up from the grass. "I'd show you to my room, but they have real issues with taking non-Crusaders into the barracks. Something to do with top secret information leaks or something," He gruffly muttered something else, but Bruce didn't think he wanted to hear it. "So, we'll just get going to the training grounds, and continue the overview, okay? Come on, this way," he signaled Bruce with a quick jerk of his head, and they made their way back along the now vacant path and back down the hill.

Bruce didn't know how long they walked until they reached their destination. Truth be told, he wasn't really paying any attention to their surroundings. His head was running on overdrive with the sudden change of events. He was going to be a Crusader. It was hard for him to even grasp the idea that he was even here to begin with. When would he be able to even go back home? The wind picked up suddenly behind him, and he felt an odd sense of peace as the breeze went through his bones, into his head and reminding him that he had no time to mope. 'Rational thought took off when I got sucked into my tv. Time to just go with it,' he reminded himself with a determined look on his face. The wind moved alongside the two of them, until soon Bruce heard the shouts of people over the small hill ahead of him.

"We made it," Jayden exclaimed, wiping a small sheen of sweat off his face with his hand. "Now, let's show you around."

* * *

A/N: Mmkay, here's a little relief for you who wonder if I'm still continuing the story. I was going to wait until the chapter was done, but this one is very long. Who knew that one day was gonna take this long? So, I'm breaking this one up. Hope you're liking it so far. 

One note: I have noticed that there are a lot of erroneous mistakes in the previous chapters, so I am in the steady process of redoing them. No worries, though, the next chapter is already half done, so expect the next update soon. Thanks again for reading, and replying!


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